Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), outgoing chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, received a letter Wednesday accusing the NRC and Dept. of Homeland Security of failing to safeguard the Oconee and Indian Point nuclear facilities, the Huffington Post reports.

The letter alleges that a natural gas pipeline explosion might cause critical damage to the Indian Point nuclear facility, or that a terrorist attack or accident could lead to dam failure upstream from the Oconee plant, causing devastating flooding.

The letter’s authors, Paul Blanch and Lawrence Criscione, identify themselves as nuclear engineers and U.S. Navy veterans, each with decades of experience in the nuclear industry. Criscione has worked for three years as a risk analyst at the NRC, and recently raised similar concerns in a letter to the head of the NRC, which was then forwarded to members of Congress.

Subscribe to Nuclear Power International magazine