WASHINGTON — The United States government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that partly owns and helps operate it warned of an "imminent radiological threat," according to US officials. The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from the French company to the US Department of Energy. Despite the alarming notification from Framatome, the French company, the Biden administration believes the facility is not yet at a "crisis level," one of the sources said. While US officials have deemed the situation does not currently pose a severe safety threat to workers at the plant or Chinese public, it is unusual that a foreign company would unilaterally reach out to the American government for help when its Chinese state-owned partner is yet to acknowledge a prob"It is not surprising that the French would reach out," according to Cheryl Rofer, a nuclear scientist who retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2001. "In general, this sort of thing is not extraordinary, particularly if they think the country they are contacting has some special ability to help." "But China likes to project that everything is just fine, all the time," she added. The US could give permission for Framatome to provide technical assistance or support to help resolve the issue, but it is the Chinese government"s decision whether the incident requires shutting down the plant completely, the documents indicate. Ultimately, the June 8 request for assistance from Framatome is the only reason why the US became involved in the situation at all, multiple sources said. However, the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant published a statement on its website Sunday night local time, maintaining that environmental readings for both the plant and its surrounding area were "normal." The two nuclear reactors in Taishan are both operational, the statement said, adding that Unit 2 had recently completed an "overhaul" and "successfully connected to the grid on June 10, 2021." The statement did not define why or how the plant was overhauled. "Since it was put into commercial operation, the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant has strictly controlled the operation of the units in accordance with operating license documents and technical procedures. All operating indicators of the two units have met the requirements of nuclear safety regulations and power plant technical specifications," the statement noted. — CNN on should the leak continue or become more severe without being fixed.