Engineer charged in nuclear plant blueprint case

6.00pm

NEW YORK - A New Jersey engineer has been arrested on federal charges accusing him of illegally sending blueprints for valves to be used in the construction of a North Korean nuclear power plant.

Sitaraman Ravi Mahadevan, 40, of Marleton, New Jersey, is charged with failing to obtain an export license as required by federal law. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

Mahadevan appeared in Manhattan federal court late on Friday afternoon (NY time) and was released on a US$750,000 ($1,242,339) bond. Neither he nor his attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, would comment.

According to the complaint, Mahadevan is an engineer at Valcor Engineering Corp. of Springfield, New Jersey, a company that makes valves used in the aerospace and nuclear power industries. The complaint said Mahadevan is manager of Valcor's nuclear business unit. A woman who answered the phone at Valcor would not comment or answer any questions about Mahadevan.

The court papers said Valcor had a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America in New York to supply valves to be used in the construction of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) plant.

The plant has been deemed "unsafeguarded," meaning it has not complied with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. Federal law requires that a license from the Commerce Department be obtained before items and technology can be exported for use in unsafeguarded nuclear facilities.

The complaint charges Mahadevan with facilitating the shipment of about 90 blueprints to Mitsubishi, knowing they would be exported to North Korea.

According to the complaint, an informant gave federal investigators documents showing that Mitsubishi was to pay Valcor more than $200,000 for the valves.

A government investigation led to the seizure of the blueprints while they were en route from Valcor to Mitsubishi and before they left the United States.

- REUTERS