Development of an Information Sharing Framework: Communication Strategies

The importance of nuclear transparency continues to increase in the Asia Pacific region along with the anticipated expansion of nuclear energy. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), in cooperation with the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), has conducted research and development of transparency concepts and tools to support and promote regional nuclear transparency. Their cooperative efforts are ongoing and the most recent activity was the workshop held in Tokai, Japan, December 1-2, 2011, “Transparency Workshop: Development of an Information Sharing Framework.” Among other things, the workshop discussed various ways of information sharing and highlighted two mechanisms: “face-to-face” and “web-based”. This paper analyzed both “face-to-face” and “web-based” mechanisms to support establishing the information sharing framework for regional transparency. Face-to-face mechanisms, such as workshops and meetings, personnel exchanges and collaborations on technical projects, are valuable as they enable direct and interactive communication and experiences. On the other hand, web-based mechanisms have advantages in the interest of time and cost for sharing real time or timely information, providing virtual access to facilities, and storing organized repositories of material on topics of interest. Each mechanism has different advantages and disadvantages therefore it is essential to find the optimum combination of these two mechanisms depending on the goals and needs of the framework. The challenges to the web-based mechanism such as information security and possible structures of a multi-party participation framework are also described.