Report from Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum in Japan now available
Initiative held by OECD NEA in partnership with WANO and key national stakeholders in Japan - as part of a series looking at the impact of national context on nuclear safety culture.
The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) has published a new report based on a Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum conducted in Japan. The report contains findings, and more importantly country-specific recommendations, for continuous improvement in enhancing safety culture across the nuclear community.
The NEA and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) established the Country-Specific Safety Culture Forum (CSSCF) in Japan, to examine how nuclear safety culture can be influenced by the national cultural context of a country operating nuclear facilities, and how operators and regulators perceive these effects in their day-to-day activities.
Following Forums in Sweden (2018), Finland (2019) and Canada (2022), the fourth CSSCF took place in Tokyo, Japan, on 14-15 December 2023. Organised by the NEA and WANO and in collaboration with the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Japan and the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC), the Forum provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on national cultural characteristics and engage in exercises to assess the influence those characteristics could have on overarching nuclear safety culture.
Initial cultural data was collected to support development of a scenario script that was used as a basis for discussion at the two-day forum. Dr Naoki Chigusa, WANO Chief Executive Officer, and Mr Kevin Kim, Director at WANO Tokyo Centre, spoke and participated in the event, along with several colleagues from WANO. The Forum allowed for an in-depth exploration of the Japanese national characteristics and themes and their potential impacts on nuclear safety culture.
A comprehensive report from the Japan CSSCF was recently published. The report findings and background materials can be found HERE.
“WANO has on four occasions had the privilege of participating in the Country-Specific Safety Cultural Forum,” says Dr. Naoki Chigusa, WANO Chief Executive Officer. “I was particularly pleased to attend the fourth CSSCF meeting in 2023 in my home country of Japan. The CSSCF provides a great opportunity for participants to explore the host country’s national culture and how it may influence nuclear safety culture. More broadly, we encourage use of the CSSCF reports as reference when working in any multi-cultural environment. “WANO continues to appreciate its collaborative work with NEA to support the Country-Specific Safety Culture Forums.”
