Development of information sharing requirements for regional nuclear transparency

Kawakubo, Yoko; Inoue, Naoko; Mongiello, R.*; Baldwin, G.*; Lee, N.-Y.*; Chung, J.*; Kwon, E.-H.*

Nuclear transparency has been discussed in various contexts even within nuclear nonproliferation. Due to the wide range of the contexts, the similar discussions have been repeated. With this background, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), US Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Korean Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC), and Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) initiated a new phase of study to develop "requirements" for information sharing framework (ISF) focusing on regional nonproliferation experts. The "requirements" in this study is defined as to implement Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) cycle for each specific category of information to be shared. "Plan" should be made by defining seven essential elements of ISF. In "Do" stage, the participants will collect the information and initiate a sharing process. "Check" is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the ISF using the metrics and methodologies identified in "Plan". The feedback obtained from the "Check" will be reflected to the "Plan" for the second cycle, then the second cycle will be implemented. Because the nuclear transparency is a voluntary process, sustainability is a key challenge. "Requirements" were developed so that if the planning and implementation of ISF is carried out following the "requirements", ISF can automatically work in a sustainable and useful manner. This paper addresses the requirements for ISF that were developed by JAEA, SNL, KINAC, and KAERI, and demonstrates how they can work with showing the example planning.