He said that the county wants an independent monitor to be appointed to ensure the safety of the Buchanan-based facility. In addition, the county is considering legal action to close the plant until it is deemed safe, Spano added.

"We thought the NRC was providing oversight to make sure if this plant were allowed to restart it would be safe," Spano charged. "After all, it is the NRC that gave Indian Point 2 a 'red' designation, which we thought meant it would be monitored more closely than any other nuclear plant in the country. Now we find out that the NRC didn't provide oversight, but relied on what it was told by Con Edison, and that Con Ed itself was in a rush to start and so violated industry standards and its own procedures."

"This is unacceptable," Spano continued. "Since we can't rely on what Con Ed tells us and we can't rely on the supposed oversight of the NRC, I have directed my legal staff to consider what our legal options might be to force the plant to shut until we know it is safe."