HOw did NRA nuclear files fid their way online?

October 3, 2015

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151003p2a00m0na008000c.html

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) secretariat says it does not know how leaked nuclear-related files used in one of its training sessions got out.

The Mainichi Shimbun has confirmed that the files included instructional materials and training session footage. New employees underwent training from April to May last year. Fifty-eight books -- totaling about 3,800 pages -- including the training text, and about 60 hours out of a total of about 74 hours of training footage appear to have been leaked. The NRA secretariat has confirmed that the files are genuine.

Within the text are 80 pages describing the equipment of a boiling water reactor. In addition to diagrams of the reactor and the pumps and turbines within, the pages includes the steps between activating a reactor and getting it up to the status of normal operation, as well as water temperature and pressure data related to starting one of these reactors.

Most of the leaked data was classified at the second-to-lowest level of a four-level scale of confidentiality, which "does not include classified information but could obstruct business operations."

In recorded video of the training showing a debate about where the blame for the nuclear disaster lay, new employees said, "Looking at the Fukushima (No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant) accident, my personal opinion is that you can't say that Tokyo Electric Power Co. was entirely at fault," and, "It is not the fault of just one group, but the fault of both (power producers and regulators.)"

Training session files were found to have leaked in March this year, and 50 pages relating to the nuclear waste reprocessing facility in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, found their way online. That leak apparently occurred when a company hired by the NRA secretariat in October last year to translate the documents into English outsourced the work to a third party.

The latest leak was also of documents assigned for translation to this company, but the company claims it only outsourced a part of the work and denies involvement in the latest case. The source of the latest leak has yet to be determined.

The International Atomic Energy Agency asks all nations to carefully manage information on nuclear power facilities to prevent nuclear terrorism. In January this year, the NRA presented security guidelines for its employees regarding the handling of nuclear information. A representative from the NRA secretariat admits that the leaks have been a "problem."