U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Helping Develop Special Nuclear Material in China

Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho has pleaded guilty to conspiring to participate in the production of special nuclear material outside the United States without authorization by the Department of Energy, the Justice Department announced on Jan. 6. Ho, a naturalized U.S. citizen and nuclear engineer, faces up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Ho served as a senior adviser for the China General Nuclear Power Co. (CGNPC) and conspired with others from 1997 to 2016 to help produce special nuclear material in China, in violation of the Atomic Energy Act, case documents state. 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.

Ho helped CGNPC attract U.S.-based nuclear engineers to help design and manufacture nuclear reactor components “more quickly by reducing the time and financial costs of research and development of nuclear technology,” the Justice Department said. It noted that Ho’s activities were meant to support CGNPC’s Small Modular Reactor Program, its Advanced Fuel Assembly Program, and its Fixed In-Core Detector System.

“Ho also identified, recruited, and executed contracts with U.S.-based experts from the civil nuclear industry who provided technical assistance related to the development and production of special nuclear material for CGNPC in China,” the Justice Department said. He was to obtain this expertise “surreptitiously,” according to Ho’s indictment.

A federal grand jury in April indicted Ho, along with his company, Energy Technology International, and CGNPC itself. He was charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government in the U.S., in addition to helping develop special nuclear material in China. He is scheduled for sentencing on May 17 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn.