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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2023)
February 6–9, 2023
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nuclear energy: enabling production of food, fiber, hydrocarbon biofuels, and negative carbon emissions
In the 1960s, Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge National Laboratory initiated a series of studies on nuclear agro-industrial complexes1 to address the needs of the world’s growing population. Agriculture was a central component of these studies, as it must be. Much of the emphasis was on desalination of seawater to provide fresh water for irrigation of crops. Remarkable advances have lowered the cost of desalination to make that option viable in countries like Israel. Later studies2 asked the question, are there sufficient minerals (potassium, phosphorous, copper, nickel, etc.) to enable a prosperous global society assuming sufficient nuclear energy? The answer was a qualified “yes,” with the caveat that mineral resources will limit some technological options. These studies were defined by the characteristic of looking across agricultural and industrial sectors to address multiple challenges using nuclear energy.
Elsa Gisquet, Sophie Beauquier, Emilie Poulain
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 9 | September 2021 | Pages 1410-1422
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1868891
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Many initiatives intended to improve safety in nuclear facilities have used the concept of “safety culture,” which focuses on human and organizational factors and emphasizes the importance of the perceptions, interpretations, and behaviors of the individuals and groups within organizations.
Particularly when it comes to risk management, it is widely believed that safety culture can be a used as a lever to strengthen a company’s overall structure and organization. But how is it possible to ensure that a new safety policy or organizational infrastructure really will promote safe and reliable operations without unforeseen and undesired cultural consequences? Once recommendations have been issued, how is it possible to assess the extent to which safety culture has (or has not) improved?
This paper argues that using what we call a “cultural analysis framework” can be a powerful way to identify and understand cultural elements that have an impact on reliability and safety within organizations. We will use a case study of the introduction of a safety management system in a nuclear facility to present this original approach. Because safety culture is a highly complex topic that can be challenging to address directly, our cultural analysis framework approaches a system at three levels, which, when explored together, can help to develop a comprehensive understanding of the cultural aspects of safety in an organization. First, at the macro level this approach examines the cultural background of a system and how it is integrated into an existing organizational culture. Second, at the meso level it looks at the collective aspects of a given system within an organization. Third, at the micro level it investigates collective and social life (modes of socialization, relationships, trust, practice sharing), as well as the symbolic and identity-related aspects of a system.
Based on the findings of our study, this paper concludes that a socio-comprehensive approach to safety can be an effective means to identify “reasonable” actions to be taken in any organization seeking to improve risk management.