In an astonishing lapse of security, a Muslim who worked at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station has been charged with illegally taking software codes to Iran and downloading details of control rooms, reactors and designs of the nation’s largest nuclear plant: Palo Verde software is breached.

The FBI says there’s no evidence it’s “terror related.”

Officers arrested Mohammad “Mo” Alavi, 49, in Los Angeles this month and charged him with one count of violating a trade embargo, which prohibits Americans from exporting goods and services to Iran. …

“The investigation has not led us to believe this information was taken for the purpose of being used by a foreign government or terrorists to attack us,” FBI spokeswoman Deborah McCarley told The Arizona Republic on Friday. “This does not appear to be terrorist-related.”

Officials with Arizona Public Service Co., which operates Palo Verde, said the software does not pose a security risk because it doesn’t control any of the nuclear plant’s operating systems and is mostly used to train employees.

But they acknowledged that they changed procedures after the incident to prohibit former employees from accessing software when they leave the company. No such procedure was in place when Alavi quit APS in August after working there for 16 years. …

A federal judge in Phoenix denied Alavi bail Friday, saying he posed a substantial flight risk.

“If released, it would not be difficult for him to sever electronic monitoring and leave the country by land,” Judge Neil Wake said. “Ultimately, returning to Iran would require some effort but would not be difficult once he left the United States. Alavi’s most important associations - family, home, business investment, intended employment and future plans - are all with Iran, not the United States.”

Alavi faces up to 21 months in prison if convicted of the charge. One factor in determining any sentence could be whether the software and schematics of Palo Verde landed in the wrong hands, Wake said.

Alavi was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on April 9 when he returned from Iran to join his wife, who arrived in the United States two weeks earlier to give birth to their child. Wake said Alavi intended to immediately return to Iran to live.

“He has no intention of resuming residence in the United States,” Wake said. “He is seeking employment in Iran, having invested $60,000 in a company with the expectation of getting employment. Alavi owns a house in Tehran valued at $150,000, in which relatives live.”

Alavi’s only connections to the United States, the judge said, are a $200,000 retirement fund, his friends, citizenship “and the possibility that he may want to return if he becomes disappointed in his plan to make his life in Iran.”

Authorities say he recently deposited $98,000 into a U.S. bank account. They also say Alavi’s motivation for taking the software was to help set up his life in Iran.

After his resignation, authorities said, Alavi told fellow employees at Palo Verde and his apartment landlord that he was going to visit Iran for a few weeks and would then return to the United States and look for a new job.

But a month before giving his resignation notice, authorities said, Alavi bought a laptop computer and used it to download the 3KeyMaster software system. The software is used to train employees on the operation of nuclear reactors.

It provides employees with emergency scenarios and instructs them to react with proper procedures. According to court records, the system contains detailed information on the reactor control rooms as well as maps, drawings, schematics and designs of the power plant.

Authorities said Alavi asked a Palo Verde software engineer to recommend a laptop and help him obtain a user name and password to access the software system. Another employee saw Alavi with that laptop in the simulator room, with a 3KeyMasterand screen displayed. The employee didn’t raise any alarms.

On Aug. 9, Alavi bought a one-way ticket to Tehran, Iran. His last day at the company was Aug. 14. Two days later, he left the country with his wife. In October, authorities say, the software system was accessed from a person using the Palo Verde user ID in Tehran.

The software’s maker, Western Services in Maryland, had no idea that Alavi had resigned from Palo Verde and did not try to restrict his access, according to a federal affidavit.

Nobody from Palo Verde informed Western Services that Alavi had quit his job at the power plant, the FBI said. The nuclear plant did not instruct the software company to remove Alavi’s user name or password from the company’s Web site.

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)