Washington (CNN) The Justice Department has given a former FBI informant the green light to testify before Congress about what he learned in an investigation of Russian nuclear industry efforts to gain influence in the uranium industry in the United States during the Obama administration.

The news that the former informant will be allowed to testify comes as House Republicans announced a probe into the circumstances surrounding the sale of a Canadian uranium mining company, Uranium One, to Russia's Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom, that was approved by the Obama administration in 2010.

The deal had to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a committee that is composed of representatives from several US government agencies, including the State Department, which at the time was led by Hillary Clinton.

The Justice Department on Wednesday authorized the former informant to disclose to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate judiciary, House oversight and House intelligence committees, as well as one member of each of their staffs, "any information or documents he has concerning alleged corruption or bribery involving transactions in the uranium market, including but not limited to anything related to Vadim Mikerin, Rosatom, Tenex, Uranium One, or the Clinton Foundation," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores confirmed in a statement.

According to The Hill , the former informant, who had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, had worked undercover gathering intelligence on the Russian industry's attempt to build its nuclear energy business in the United States.

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