By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A former senior TVA manager has admitted he was paid by the Chinese government for nuclear technological information while working for the utility, court records unsealed Friday show.

Ching Ning Guey has struck a deal to plead guilty to a charge of development of special nuclear material outside the U.S. The case, kept under seal for more than a year, is tied to an indictment announced earlier this month against a Chinese nuclear engineer and a Chinese-owned nuclear power plant alleging nuclear espionage.

Plea agreement for Ching Ning Guey in nuclear spying case

Guey worked as a senior manager for the probabilistic risk assessment division of the Tennessee Valley Authority from 2010 to 2014. According to a plea agreement filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley, Guey had access through his job to tightly-controlled information about the development and production of special nuclear material.

"The defendant received warnings and guidance on the restrictions and controls that pertain to the prohibitions against the distribution and sharing of this information with restricted countries," Atchley wrote.

But in November 2013, Guey was invited to travel to China at the request of a nuclear power company owned by the People's Republic of China. The trip was financed by the Chinese government, and Guey was paid by the Chinese government for three key Electric Power Research Institute reports that China was barred from accessing, Atchley wrote. All three reports provided key information about light-water and heavy-water nuclear reactors and are regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Nonproliferation and International Security.

Guey, who was born in Taiwan but became a naturalized citizen in 1990, was recruited as far back as 2004 to provide the Chinese government with nuclear information, court records show. That relationship came as a result of Guey's meeting in the early 1990s with Chinese nuclear engineer Szuhsiung "Allen" Ho at a Chinese American Nuclear Technology Association event.

The payments to Guey included a check sent by Ho to a Chattanooga address totaling $15,555 for services in 2013 and 2014, according to court records.

Ho was arrested earlier this month in Atlanta on a federal indictment charging him, his firm, Energy Technology International, and China General Nuclear Power with conspiracy to commit espionage. He arrived in Knoxville this week, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton on Tuesday set a June 27 trial date. That date is expected to change.

Atchley sought to keep Ho locked up pending trial, and Ho did not resist the move. Atlanta attorney W. Carl Lietz III has filed paperwork to represent Ho.

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Prosecutors allege Ho conspired to lure nuclear experts in the U.S. into providing information to allow China to develop and produce nuclear material based on American technology and under the radar of the U.S. government. The indictment consists of one count of conspiracy to illegally engage and participate in the production and development of special nuclear material outside the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to act in the U.S. as an agent of a foreign government.

Six unidentified American co-conspirators were listed in the indictment. Guey was among them, although not identified by name. Court records unsealed Friday show Guey has been cooperating in the investigation of Ho and the Chinese government.

Ho's indictment lists incidents of Guey providing Ho and the Chinese-operated nuclear power plants technological information in addition to the one for which Guey is pleading guilty. Their allegiance dates back to at least 2004, when Guey worked for Florida Power & Light nuclear plant and provided "information regarding nuclear power plant outage times" for use at China General's Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and provided consulting services to Daya Bay during that time, the Ho indictment stated.

Guey's plea deal includes a provision granting him immunity from prosecution for the other offenses outlined in the Ho indictment as part of his cooperation agreement. Such immunity deals, although not the norm, are not unusual when a defendant acts as a key witness against a co-conspirator higher up on the crime food chain.

Guey has a team of lawyers: Ann Short and Donald A. Bosch as current Knoxville counsel and veteran Nashville attorney Ed Yarbrough and his partner, Joseph Alexander Little IV, who negotiated the plea deal and immunity agreement. Guey is free pending sentencing, although a date for that has not yet been set.