NRC Safety Culture Policy Statement In March 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved its Safety Culture Policy Statement. ABSTRACT: The NRC recognizes that it is important for all organizations performing or overseeing regulated activities to establish and maintain a positive safety culture commensurate with the safety and security significance of their activities and the nature and complexity of their organizations and functions. In a notice dated Nov. 6, regulators noted a âsubstantial safety culture issueâ at Watts Bar at the time of the incident. Ample evidence strongly suggests that the NRC itself has nuclear safety culture problems. As stated in the Safety Culture Policy Statement, organizations should ensure that personnel in the safety and security sectors have an appreciation for the importance of each, emphasizing the need for integration and balance to achieve both safety and security in their activities. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Commission issued orders enhancing security at facilities whose operations, if attacked, could have an impact on public health and safety. Safety Culture and Nuclear Reactors Beginning in 1989, the NRC published two policy statements about safety culture at nuclear power plants. The NRC conducted an âassessment of whether any safety culture component caused or significantly contributed to the white finding and PI.â The assessment was triggered by PPLâs report that SC issues may have contributed to the plantâs performance problems. ⢠Licensees bear primary responsibility for safety ⢠NRCâs Safety Culture Policy Statement states safety culture expectation, but is not a regulatory requirement ⢠NRC considers safety culture within the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) for nuclear power reactors ⢠NRC assessment of safety culture is primarily as a result of an event or degradation in performance ⢠Different levels of inspection activity based on ⦠What is Safety Culture? The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) defines nuclear safety culture as the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment. This policy statement provides the NRCâs expectation that Following the discovery of degradation of the reactor pressure vessel head at Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in 2002, the NRC took additional steps within the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) to strengthen the agency's ability to detect potential safety culture weaknesses during inspections and performance assessments. Since 2006, the NRC's oversight of safety culture for power reactors through the ROP has included guidance and procedures for inspecting and assessing aspects of licensees' safety culture. Safety Culture and Nuclear Security Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Commission issued orders enhancing security at facilities whose operations, if attacked, could have an impact on public health and safety. Nuclear safety culture is defined as the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment. The intent of this initiative, as requested by the industry, was to align terminology between the NRC's inspection and assessment processes within the ROP and the industry's assessment process. A safety culture that accomplishes this would include all nuclear safety and security issues associated with NRC regulated activities. Safety culture isn't required. The most visible of these involved security officers sleeping in a "ready room" while on shift at a nuclear power plant. Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards". Before work began on the 2011 Safety Culture Policy Statement, the nuclear power industry approached the NRC about starting an effort to develop a shared set of terms to describe safety culture. Most of the weaknesses involved inadequate management oversight of security, lack of a questioning attitude within the security organization, complacency, barriers to raising concerns about security issues, and inadequate training of security personnel. These workshops, held in December 2011, April 2012, November 2012, and January 2013, included panelists from the NRC, the nuclear power industry, and the public. NUREG-2165, "Safety Culture Common Language," documents the outcomes of the public workshops to develop a common language to describe safety culture in the nuclear industry. The safety culture concept was first applied to the nuclear power industry by the International Atomic Energy Agencyâs (IAEAâs) International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG, 1986). Fostering an environment for raising concerns continues to be an important attribute of a positive nuclear safety culture, and was included as one of the traits of a positive safety culture in the NRC's Safety Culture Policy Statement (76 FR 34773; June 14, 2011). But NRC inspectors have credited TVA for making significant improvements in the way it encourages and handles employee safety concerns at its nuclear power plants in Tennessee and Alabama. 12 Page Last Reviewed/Updated Friday, March 20, 2020. IMC 0613, "Documenting 10 CFR Part 52 Construction Inspections," and IMC 2505, "Periodic Assessment of Construction Inspection Program Results," provide guidance to assess the safety culture of a construction site. If you wish to contact a staff member, you may find ⦠NRC Safety Culture History ⢠Operators inattentive and unprofessional while on duty at nuclear power plant ⢠Commission Policy Statement: Conduct of Nuclear Power Plant Operations 1989 ⢠Workers retaliated against for whistleblowing ⢠Commission Policy Statement: Freedom to Raise Safety ⦠For security reasons, the NRC does not publish staff e-mail addresses in this online directory. The NRCâs current perspective on safety culture is summed up in an NRC project managerâs post in an internet Nuclear Safety Culture forum: âYou seem to [sic] hung up on how NRC is going to enforce safety culture. The term was used to explain how the lack of knowledge about risk and safety and failure to act appropriately contributed to the Chernobyl accident. During the early years of implementation of these security enhancements, several violations of the Commission's security requirements were identified in which the licensee's failure to cultivate a positive safety culture impacted the effectiveness of the licensee's security program. NUREG-2165 outlines a suggested common language for classifying and grouping traits and attributes of a healthy nuclear safety culture. The latest survey was conducted during 2015 and released in March 2016. Nuclear Safe Culture, defined by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2104) established in 1975, is the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment in ⦠One described the Commission's expectations for the conduct of operations in control rooms; the second established the Commission's expectation for maintaining a safety-conscious work environment (SCWE), in which workers are able to raise nuclear safety concerns without fear of retaliation. We remain committed to a healthy and sustainable Nuclear Safety Culture and Safety Conscious Work Environment. But because the NRC deems a positive safety culture as swell and important but not mandatory, plant owners need not collect any of these colored traits. Last November, the NRC met to discuss the results of the latest in a series of triennial surveys conducted by a consultant of its safety culture and climate. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also has ruled TVA discriminated against a safety whistleblower at its Sequoyah nuclear power plant in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, in May 2018. Safety Culture Definition Nuclear Safety Culture is the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment. Controlled Unclassified Information Program (CUI), NUREG-2165, "Safety Culture Common Language, IMC 0613, "Documenting 10 CFR Part 52 Construction Inspections, IMC 2505, "Periodic Assessment of Construction Inspection Program Results, Safety Culture in the ROP Training Resource – Text Version, Safety Culture Common Language (NUREG-2165), Inspection Manual Chapter 0310 Aspects within the Cross-Cutting Areas, Inspection Procedure 95003.02 Guidance for Conducting an Independent NRC Safety Culture Assessment, NRC Information Notice 2013-15 Willful Misconduct/Record Falsification and Nuclear Safety Culture, Policy Statement on the Conduct of Nuclear Power Plant Operations (54 FR 3424; January 24, 1989), Davis-Besse Reactor Vessel Head Degradation. The Policy Statement was developed over a three-year period during which the NRC engaged in extensive outreach with a broad range of stakeholders. These procedures provide NRC inspectors with guidance on how to assess the safety culture at a construction site with escalating levels of efforts commensurate with the significance of a site's performance decline. The NRCâs discussion of the 2012 survey was held behind closed doorsâabout as plain Note that NRC no longer publishes a telephone directory NUREG/BR-0046. Safety and security activities are closely intertwined. We aren't. The NRC defines nuclear safety culture as the core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment. While many safety and security activities complement each other, there may be instances in which safety and security interests create competing goals. Tolerating the intolerable reflects a poor safety culture. With insights gained during the development of the Safety Culture Policy Statement, the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) hosted a series of public workshops beginning in December 2011 to discuss the idea of a safety culture common language. It is important that consideration of these activities be integrated so as not to diminish or adversely affect either; thus, mechanisms should be established to identify and resolve these differences. Part of the job of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissionâthe US agency charged with reactor safetyâis to ensure that workers at US nuclear power plants feel free to raise safety issues, and that management responds proactively and without rebuke. For decades, the NRC has performed this function admirably. Controlled Unclassified Information Program (CUI), Policy Statement on the Conduct of Nuclear Power Plant Operations (54 FR 3424; January 24, 1989). The NRCâs Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has surveyed the safety culture and climate within the NRC every three years for the past two decades. Principles for a Strong Nuclear Safety Culture defines nuclear safety culture as an organizationâs values and behaviorsâmodeled by its leaders and internalized by its membersâthat serve to make nuclear safety the overriding priority. âThe NRC team was concerned that the SCLTâs [Safety Culture Leadership Team, senior managers] conclusion that ANOâs safety culture was âadequateâ in August 2015 did not appropriately reflect the data provided by, or the recommendations from, the NSCMP [Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring Panel, mid-level personnel]. On its safety culture webpage, the NRC identifies nine very colorful traits needed for a positive safety culture. The NRC's approach to safety cultu⦠The NRCâs Safety Culture Policy Statement includes âQuestioning Attitudeâ as a trait of a positive safety culture. We work on it every day and in recent years have taken multiple actions to strengthen our Nuclear Safety Culture. TVA promised to take steps to restore a proper safety culture at the plant. Introduction Principles for a Strong Nuclear Safety Culturedescribes the essential attributes of a healthy nuclear safety culture (hereafter âsafety cultureâ), with the goal of creating a framework for open discussion and continuing evolution of safety culture throughout the commercial nuclear electric generating industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a Chilled Work Environment Letter to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on March 23, 2016, about safety culture problems at the Watts Bar nuclear plant. They also found that âTVA senior management and staff failed to communicate with candor, clarity, and integrity during several interactions with the NRC during the course of the inspection and investigation.â In March 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the Safety Culture Policy Statement, following a three-year development Page Last Reviewed/Updated Friday, March 20, 2020. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which oversees US power plants, believes that a posi- tive safety cultureâone in which there is a âcollec- tive commitment by leaders and individuals to em- phasize safety over competing goals to ensure protec- tion of people and the environmentââis vital to nu- clear safety.1Safety should not be the only factor in decision making, but should be given proper empha- sis. This initiative was within the Commission-directed framework for enhancing the ROP treatment of crosscutting areas to more fully address safety culture. Like snowflakes, no two of the safety culture trait colors are the same. The core values and behaviors resulting from a collective commitment by leaders and individuals to emphasize safety over competing goals to ensure protection of people and the environment » (NRC Safety culture policy statement, March 2011) Why Take so Much Time with the Definition? It won't be the basis for denying a license application. The supplemental inspection procedures also provide NRC inspectors with the tools to communicate safety culture issues to stakeholders. Radiation safety and protection of people are shared goals of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). IMC 2505 also includes references to the supplemental inspection procedures, which are used when there is a decline in safety performance at a construction site. The staff continues to enhance ROP guidance documents, as needed, based on lessons learned and stakeholder feedback. The information it contained is at this site. Through unpr ⦠For the commercial nuclear power industry,nuclear safety remains the ⦠In 2008, the NRC developed several additional changes to the guidance on oversight of safety culture in the ROP as a result of lessons learned from the supplemental inspection conducted at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. A positive safety culture contributes to achieving radiation safety and protection of people, which are important to both the HPS and the NRC. Nearly 13 months later, has a proper safety culture been restored at Watts Bar? The strength of an organizationâs dedication to safe operation can be seen in its nuclear safety culture. Beginning in 1989, the NRC published two policy statements about safety culture at nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited a second instance of a former executive on the Plant Vogtle nuclear project dismissing a worker who had previously raised safety concerns. 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