Sorrell raises Vermont Yankee fuel storage worry

Vermont has joined a federal lawsuit to get the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take a deeper look at concerns surrounding nuclear plants' spent fuel pools.

The attorney general's office and the Department of Public Service asked a federal appeals court Tuesday for permission to intervene in the case.

The Massachusetts attorney general had appealed an NRC decision rejecting its request that the agency review spent fuel pools on a plant-by-plant basis.

Concerns have been raised since the terrorist attacks of 2001 about the vulnerability of nuclear spent fuel pools to terrorist attacks.

Vermont wants the issues studied in detail as the NRC reviews the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's request for a 20-year license extension.