A U.S. citizen has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government in the U.S. and helping develop special nuclear material in China without authorization from the Department of Energy, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday and announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho, a nuclear engineer serving as a senior adviser for the China General Nuclear Power Co. (CGNPC), allegedly conspired with others between 1997 and 2016 to participate in the production of special nuclear material in China, the indictment said. It noted that Ho allegedly “sought technical assistance related to, among other things, CGNPC’s Small Modular Reactor Program; CGNPC’s Advanced Fuel Assembly Program; CGNPC’s Fixed In-Core Detector System; and verification and validation of nuclear reactor-related computer codes.”
The U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 designates special nuclear material as “plutonium, uranium-233, or uranium enriched in the isotopes uranium-233 or uranium-235,” according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The CGNPC, state-owned by China and the country’s largest nuclear power company, develops and manufactures nuclear reactors. Ho allegedly recruited U.S.-based civil nuclear industry experts for technical help in the development of nuclear material in China for CGNPC. He allegedly told these experts “that he was charged with obtaining necessary expertise from the United States at the direction of the CGNPC” and “that he was to do so surreptitiously,” according to the indictment.
“The arrest and indictment in this case send an important message to the U.S. nuclear community that foreign entities want the information you possess,” said Michael Steinbach, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, in a press release. “The federal government has regulations in place to oversee civil nuclear cooperation, and if those authorities are circumvented, this can result in significant damage to our national security. The U.S. will use all of its law enforcement tools to stop those who try to steal U.S. nuclear technology and expertise.”
The indictment charges Ho, the CGNPC, and Energy Technology International, which Ho owns, with conspiracy to unlawfully engage and participate in the production and development of special nuclear materials outside the United States. The maximum sentence on that charge is a life prison term and a $250,000 fine.
If convicted of acting as an agent of a foreign government, Ho could also be sentenced to up to a decade in prison, plus fines and supervised release.
