Espionage

Espionage Arrest of Nuclear Engineer Fuels UK-Chinese Hinkley Deal Doubts

Britain's Chinese partner in the Hinkley Point power station deal has been accused of plotting to steal US nuclear secrets. The revelation has confirmed the worst suspicions of critics of the UK-Chinese key nuclear deal.

Szuhsiung Ho, also called Alan Ho, a nuclear engineer for state-owned China General Nuclear (CGNPC) is accused of setting up US experts to pass sensitive information to China, in a plot that prosecutors allege threatened US national security. 

The news comes just days after British Prime Minister Theresa May put the brakes on a US$23 million nuclear power plant project expected to be built in Somerset in the South West of England. She's initiated a review to re-analyse the security implications.

The CGNPC was to have a 33% stake in the controversial infrastructure project, expected to be the most expensive ever built. French company EDF is the only other investor. The project was green-lit in 2015 by former Prime Minister David Cameron, and designed to meet about 7% of the UK's electricity needs.