Mass. AG appeals ruling affecting Vt. Yankee

The Massachusetts attorney general is appealing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rejection of concerns about possible accidents or sabotage involving the spent radioactive fuel pools at the Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear plants.

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed the appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston this week.

Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim - both owned by Entergy Nuclear - are seeking to extend their operating licenses for 20 years. Coakley's office sought to get the NRC to consider the risks posed by the plants' spent fuel pools in the post-9/11 environment, but federal regulators declined.

The NRC said the information about the spent fuel pools wasn't new and the risks were low.