Our Perspective on Nuclear Safety Culture

Vermont Yankee (part 1)

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:39:00 GMT

This week saw a very significant development in the nuclear industry and the potential consequences of safety culture issues on a specific plant, a large nuclear enterprise and the industry. As has been widely reported, the Vermont Senate voted against the extension of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s operating license. In part it appears this action stemmed from the recent leakages of tritium at the plant site but perhaps more significantly, from how the matter was handled by the plant owner, Entergy.

The fallout of these events has not only put into question the future of the Vermont Yankee plant, triggered the interest of the NRC and a requirement that Entergy officials testify under oath, it may also have consequences for Entergy’s plans to spin-off six of its nuclear plants into an independent subsidiary.

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SimCity Baghdad

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:13:00 GMT

"SimCity Baghdad" is the title of an intriguing article from The Atlantic magazine (Jan/Feb 2010 issue). It describes a new computer game called UrbanSim that allows U.S. Army officers to train in counterinsurgency tactics that are being implemented in Iraq. Many of the benefits of simulation described in this case are the same as for managing nuclear safety culture.

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What is Italian for Complacency?

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:33:00 GMT

It is “compiacimento”. In a recent speech to a conference in Rome, Italy, NRC Commissioner Klein again sounded the warning about complacency as a latent flaw that can undermine nuclear safety. We have written a number of posts on this blog on the subject and continue to emphasize it as otherwise . . . . we would be complacent.

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NRC Safety Culture Initiatives

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:41:00 GMT

A recent speech by Chairman Jaczko of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlines the NRC’s current initiative regarding safety culture and safety conscious work environment. We believe it is significant that almost all of the Chairman’s public comments include references to NRC safety culture initiatives.

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Social Licking?

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:57:00 GMT

I just read a book review of some interesting social science that could be of great relevance to building and sustaining safety cultures. But I couldn’t resist the best quote of the review, commenting about some of the unusual findings in recent studies of social networks, to wit, “In fact, the model that best predicted the network structure of U.S. senators was that of social licking among cows.”

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“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game. It is the game.”

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:48:00 GMT

The quote is from Lou Gerstner, retired Chairman of IBM, and appears in an interesting presentation by the management team at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Company. In it they put forth their perspectives on addressing culture change within their organization.

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Air France

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:48:00 GMT

A recent Wall Street Journal article indicates that Air France is taking an unusual step in asking its partner airline, Delta, to help assess its safety practices.

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Quote of the Day

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:00 GMT

“So it appears that man is capable of controlling the climate, but not the atom. God is laughing.”

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The Davis Besse Hole

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:52:00 GMT

Most people remember the 2002 discovery of the corrosive hole in the Davis Besse reactor vessel head. But what about the seven year regulatory hole the plant and its organization fell into as a result of the reactor vessel head incident?

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A LearnSafe Afterthought

webmaster@nuclearsafetysim.com — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:57:00 GMT

The line of thinking in the Wahlström and Rollenhagen paper and the LearnSafe project appears to provide a strong nudge away from thinking of safety culture in terms of a set of beliefs and values. Or of thinking of safety culture as something apart from the how the multiple, complex decision processes within an organization are occurring.

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