Washington ( CNN ) -- A former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear scientist and his wife were indicted on charges of trying to provide nuclear secrets to Venezuela , but U.S. officials stressed the Venezuelan government knew nothing about the plans . The officials said they have no information from the undercover operation that Hugo Chavez 's government has any plans to try to build a nuclear weapon . Pedro Mascheroni , 75 , and Roxby Mascheroni , 67 , are U.S. citizens who worked as contractors at Los Alamos in New Mexico , officials said Friday . In 2008 , Mascheroni , who had left the laboratory years earlier , had a series of conversations with an undercover FBI agent posing as an official of the Caracas government , according to the indictment . `` Mascheroni allegedly said he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that under his program Venezuela would use a secret underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium and an open , above-ground reactor to produce nuclear energy , '' the Justice Department said . According , to a U.S. Justice Department statement , Mascheroni allegedly asked about obtaining Venezuelan citizenship and described how he expected to be paid for his classified nuclear work for Venezuela . Mascheroni said his fee for producing certain information was $ 793,000 , the indictment alleges . U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzalez said the charges against the couple `` are very serious . '' He said laws were designed to keep `` restricted data '' from getting to the wrong people .
NEW : FBI says physicist wanted $ 5000 for information . The scientist and his wife are accused of trying to provide nuclear secrets to Venezuela . Venezuela 's government knew nothing about the plans , officials say . The Venezuelan citizens worked as scientists at the New Mexico laboratory .