The loss of a government-issued smartphone by an employee of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has raised renewed questions about information security inside the country’s nuclear oversight system. The device, containing confidential contact details linked to nuclear security work, went missing during a personal trip to China, according to Japanese media.

The employee is believed to have lost the phone on Nov. 3 while passing through a security check at an airport in Shanghai. He noticed the loss three days later, and attempts to recover the device through airport authorities were unsuccessful. The NRA has said it cannot confirm whether the information stored on the phone was accessed or leaked.

“Respond Promptly to Emergencies”

The NRA issues smartphones to selected staff to ensure rapid response during nuclear incidents, the Asahi Shimbun reported. According to Kyodo News, the employee’s department is responsible for safeguarding nuclear materials against threats such as theft and terrorism across Japan’s nuclear facilities.

Following the incident, the NRA reported the loss to Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission and warned employees not to take work phones overseas. The agency has not disclosed how many contacts were stored on the device or whether encryption or remote-wipe functions were in place.

Post-Fukushima Oversight Strain

The episode comes as Japan continues efforts to restart reactors shut down after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami triggered multiple meltdowns. All reactors were ordered offline that year, and the NRA was subsequently established to enforce stricter safety and security standards before any restart approvals.

Recent years have seen multiple security lapses in the nuclear sector. In 2023, an employee at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, the world’s largest nuclear facility, lost a stack of sensitive documents after driving off with them placed on a car roof. In November of the same year, another worker at the plant was found to have improperly copied and stored confidential files.

Inspection Credibility Pressures

Scrutiny has intensified further this week after Chubu Electric Power acknowledged it may have used selectively chosen data during nuclear safety inspections. The NRA suspended its review of Chubu’s reactor restart application, citing the “fabrication of critical inspection data,” according to Reuters.

Together, the incidents underscore the operational and credibility challenges facing Japan’s nuclear regulators as they balance tighter security expectations with the political and economic push to bring reactors back online.