As they prepare rival presidential bids that could produce a head-to-head clash, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) are lining up on opposite sides of their home state’s debate over a controversial nuclear power plant.

Indian Point Energy Center, 18 miles from Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, N.Y., applied for federal re-licensing last month with a public bona fide from Giuliani, whose security firm works for the plant’s owners. Warnings from lawmakers and local officials in both parties that the plant poses risks to public health and national security are unfounded, Giuliani said.

“Indian Point is as safe as a facility can be,” the recently declared White House hopeful told reporters and officials at his appearance on behalf of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the plant’s owner. Giuliani described Indian Point as an “excellent model” for other industries, touting the 12 drills his firm conducted at the plant and Entergy’s nearly $25 million investment in safety upgrades.

Members of New York’s congressional delegation, however, take issue with Giuliani’s assurances. Citing the 9/11 Commission’s report that al-Qaeda members considered hitting Indian Point on their way to the World Trade Center, as well as concerns over a leak that has created a radioactive pool beneath the facility, three House Democrats and Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.) have called for Indian Point’s closure.

New York’s Democratic senators, Clinton and Charles Schumer, have stopped short of urging a shutdown or opposing re-licensing. Once an application is submitted, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) takes an average of 22 months to renew plant approvals, putting Indian Point’s fate on a parallel track with the battle for the presidency.

“Everything should be on the table during the re-licensing process, and the public’s concerns must be addressed,” Clinton said in a statement after Giuliani helped launch Indian Point’s renewal bid.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who has joined Clinton on bills requiring the NRC to conduct an independent safety assessment of Indian Point, said New York lawmakers have formed a united front in pushing for new inspections of the plant, though not outright shutdown. Giuliani’s 2003 entrance into the Indian Point fray is more problematic, Hinchey added.

“A lot of things he’s done have raised questions about his ability to be a candidate for president. This was certainly one of them, the fact that he’s made himself available to say almost anything [for] people who pay him,” Hinchey said.

Giuliani’s national security credentials, burnished by his stalwart response to the Sept. 11 attacks, would add significant heft to his potential White House run. The former U.S. attorney and centrist on social issues opened an exploratory committee last month that will hold a large-scale fundraiser next week, according to local reports.

The record Giuliani crafted as “America’s Mayor” is valuable to Entergy as he assists in the re-licensing campaign, company spokesman Jim Steets said. Entergy is working to identify the source of the radioactive leak beneath the plant, which Steets asserted is below legal maximums.

Entergy does not believe an independent inspection is necessary, but “it is clearly in our interests that not even just the senators, but any elected officials in the area, are going to find we’re doing the right thing here,” Steets said. “To that extent, we remain open.”

David Lochbaum, director of the nuclear safety program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Giuliani is taking a political gamble by linking himself directly with Indian Point, although he does not believe the Entergy deal influenced the ex-mayor’s safety inspections there.

If any new glitches at the plant emerged during the campaign season, “that would probably cost him a few points in the polls,” said Lochbaum. “His words would come back to haunt him, like Mike Brown,” the former federal emergency management director who was ridiculed on the Hill after Hurricane Katrina.

The prospect of a Clinton-Giuliani contest in 2008, fulfilling the promise of a 2000 Senate race that fizzled when a cancer diagnosis forced Giuliani to forego another run for office, could throw Indian Point onto the national radar, said Chris Malone, associate professor of political science at New York’s Pace University.

“It’s a backdoor way of getting at the security issue against Giuliani,” Malone said. “If Clinton’s smart, she’ll try to do that.”

But Clinton will face pressure of her own on Indian Point as Democrats ascend to majority status next year, Malone added. Her seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, under a sympathetic new chairwoman, will leave Clinton well positioned to force the NRC’s hand legislatively if it does not conduct an independent assessment of the plant.

“Sen. Clinton has been a vocal advocate for greater safety, security and emergency preparedness at Indian Point,” said spokesman Philippe Reines in an e-mail. “She will continue to press for full scrutiny of these concerns during the relicensing process and to underscore the need for an independent assessment … including pressing for action” in committee.

Bob Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies who served in the Energy Department under former President Clinton, said Sen. Clinton’s expertise on New York issues, including her work to secure upgraded emergency and evacuation plans for Indian Point, has impressed him.

Recalling a 2003 meeting with Clinton where she acknowledged that the nuclear industry’s political clout with the GOP majority would make shuttering Indian Point difficult, Alvarez said he hoped Clinton would lead on NRC oversight in the 110th Congress.

“It was a fair answer to say, ‘It’s impossible to do anything about this because of the current political situation,’ which is what Clinton said. The political situation has now changed,” said Alvarez. “Will that affect whether you take a position now that is much more critical?”

Alex Matthiessen, president of Riverkeeper, the environmental group founded by Robert Kennedy Jr., pointed to a June National Academy of Sciences study that showed New York could meet its energy demands without Indian Point.

“I’d guess that privately, she would like to see the plant shut down,” Matthiessen said of Clinton, acknowledging his disappointment that neither senator had come out in favor of closure. “In the case of Clinton, though, I am appreciative … I have to believe that she’s going about this her own way.”

One backer of Giuliani’s pro-Indian Point effort is Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace who left the group after decrying what he calls extremism within the environmental movement. “Any politician who doesn’t support Indian Point is basically asking for more air pollution,” said Moore, who now heads a consulting firm that touts the cleanliness of nuclear power.

Many supporters of Indian Point’s closure see a good omen in Rep.-elect John Hall (D-N.Y.), a former musician whose anti-nuclear activism took flight with the 1970s’ “No Nukes” concerts and helped him defeat favored GOP Rep. Sue Kelly last month. Hall’s plan for Indian Point would convert the plant into a renewable energy center to begin supplying the area with replacement power.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the first in Congress to support closing Indian Point, said he welcomes any lawmakers who want to join with him, Hinchey, Hall and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y). Engel vowed to pursue hearings on the plant after Democrats take over Congress next month, but said, “The minute we start dealing with Indian Point, there are 20 others who want to jump in, and then it gets diluted.”

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who some believe would become Clinton’s biggest rival for the Democratic nomination should he mount a presidential run, co-sponsored a bill with her this spring requiring plant owners to notify the NRC and local governments whenever a leak is discovered. Obama cited his own concerns with a nuclear plant in Broadwood, Ill.