US engineer gets two years in jail for leaking nuclear secrets to China

19:05, UK, Friday 01 September 2017

Image:Allen Ho pleaded guilty to helping China to steal US nuclear technology secrets

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An American man has been sentenced to two years in prison for leaking nuclear technology to China over a 19-year period.

Szuhsiung Ho, also known as Allen Ho, is a naturalised US citizen, born in Taiwan.

He pleaded guilty to conspiring to breaching the Atomic Energy Act, which prohibits sensitive and controlled technology being exported from the US.

From 1997 until 2016, Ho had worked with the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Company (CGN) to steal sensitive secrets regarding nuclear energy.

Ho's connection to CGN caused concern for the UK at the time of his arrest with the Chinese company being involved in the development of UK nuclear power station Hinkley Point C.

The deal to construct the £18bn nuclear power station was signed in September 2016.

Critics of the scheme have long-argued that CGN's involvement poses a potential security risk.

Image:The man had smuggled nuclear power secrets to China for 19 years. File pic

At the same time as working for CGN, Ho, 66, was employed by a company based in Delaware called Energy Technology International.

Ho used his position to recruit nuclear engineers and other technical experts to help CGN to reduce costs and development time for nuclear power production.

Ho was also fined $20,000 (£15,400) for exporting the technology.

"Theft of our nuclear technology by foreign adversaries is of paramount concern to the FBI," said the special agent in charge, Renae McDermott.

"Along with our local, state and federal partners, we will aggressively investigate those who seek to steal our technology for the benefit of foreign governments," said Ms McDermott.