A former U.S. government employee has pleaded guilty to traveling to China to provide the Chinese government with restricted information about nuclear technology, court records unsealed Friday show.

Federal records show Ching Ning Guey admitted he was paid by the Chinese government for nuclear information while working as a manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority, a U.S. government-owned electric utility.

The indictment, kept sealed for more than a year, charged Guey with one count of conspiracy to illegally participate in the development of nuclear material outside the United States and one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government.

Guey, a native of Taiwan, was charged alongside his longtime acquaintance Szuhisiung Ho, a U.S. nuclear engineer born in China.

The U.S. government alleges Ho recruited Guey to give the Chinese government information about nuclear technologies.

According to the plea agreement, Guey had access through his job to sensitive information about the development and production of special nuclear material. The Tennessee Valley Authority is involved in the production and sale of electricity in the southeast United States, including power from coal-fired, nuclear and hydroelectric facilities.

The U.S. government alleges that Ho and Guey have known each other since the early 1990s, and says that as recently as December, Ho sent Guey a check for more than $15,000 for his help in providing the Chinese government with information in 2013 and 2014. (VOA)

•Photo shows US President Barack Obama.