The Local Governments’ Management of the Sensitive Information

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material was revised, and many countries have enhanced their regulatory regimes about the management of sensitive information, especially in the physical protection system. Japan also amended the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law in 2005 in step with this global movement. The major areas of this revision which are associated with sensitive information are as follows: formulation of the Design Basis Threat (DBT), introduction of inspection system of physical protection and obligation of confidentiality of the secret of physical protection. Through this amendment, the responsibilities of the national government and the utilities have been clarified. However, there is no prescription which ordains the role and responsibility of the local governments. In fact, the local governments receive various information from the utilities through the “Safety Agreements” which are concluded between the local governments and the utilities, and the Public Safety Commissions of prefectures are involved in the transportation of nuclear materials. Moreover, the Act on Special Measures concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness provides the engagement and the responsibility of the local governments in case of nuclear disaster. In addition, the Civil Protection Law also provides the formulation of local governments’ plans for a response to national emergencies including nuclear disaster which is caused by terrorist attacks. As described above, the local governments are in a position where they can or have to touch the sensitive information in a variety of ways. Originally, the local government employees have obligation of confidentiality by the Local Public Service Act. Thus, about the sensitive information, they have duty to keep secret. However, we are hard to say that there are complete systems to check this obligation, so we can point out that its effectiveness is doubtful. Especially, the sensitive information which is related to nuclear materials is vital for security of the nation as a whole. Under such awareness, we’re studying the change of the local governments’ way of the management of sensitive information accompanied by the strengthening of Japanese nuclear regulation, and the actual condition of it. Now, we interview some local governments’ departments in charge where nuclear facilities are located. In this paper, we discuss the actual condition and the problems around the local governments’ management of the sensitive information.