A federal jury in Arizona convicted an Iranian man of illegally using a computer in the United States to access software from the nation's largest nuclear power plant. However, they deadlocked on two other charges: "knowingly and intentionally" stealing protected software and exporting the software in violation of the U.S. trade embargo with Iran.

The Arizona Republic reports Mohammad Alavi, 50, lived in the United States as a naturalized citizen for 30 years and worked for 16 years as an engineer at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix. In 2006, he resigned and moved to Tehran. He took with him a laptop containing training software from the plant and remotely accessed codes enabling him to use it.

Plant officials said the software posed no security risk and could not be used to affect operations. It merely goes through proper procedures for emergency situations, according to AZCentral.com.

The prosecution claimed he planned to use it to get a job in the nuclear industry of Iran, which has been involved in a nuclear enrichment program in defiance of the U.N. Security Council. The defense argued that Alavi wanted to be able to show relatives work he was proud of from the United States and that he was unaware of the complex prohibitions involved in the trade embargo. He was arrested when he returned to the United States in 2007.

In fact, Alavi was not the only employee to copy the software to his laptop. Plant officials encouraged employees to do so and to work on it at home, the Republic reports.

Federal prosecutors plan to retry the case beginning Aug. 1.