New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has joined Westchester County?s fight to close the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The county has gone to federal court, protesting the NRC's refusal to expand its criteria for considering license renewals for the plant. Thursday, the State Attorney General's Office filed a friend of the court brief in a federal appeals court. The move is in support of the county's contention that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not look at enough factors when re-licensing nuclear plants. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal joined Cuomo in filing the brief.

In the papers, Cuomo contends location, susceptibility to terrorist attack and acceptable emergency warning and evacuation plans should be part of the NRC's review process. Cuomo also talks about population density, saying about 6 percent of the nation's population lives within 50 miles of the plant in Buchanan. The attorney general quotes from the 9/11 Commission report that al-Qaida had talked about attacking a U.S. nuclear plant.

Earlier this year, Entergy, the company which owns Indian Point, filed renewal applications with the NRC. The license for Indian Point 2 expires in 2013 and unit 3 runs out in 2015. Entergy wants both licenses to be renewed for another 30 years.

Through a statement, Cuomo said the NRC's re-licensing is "A process that ignores important factors about nuclear power plant safety and is stacked in favor of plant operators."

Related InformationEntergy pulls out big guns for Indian Point license renewal