Results of nuclear security culture survey on personnel at nuclear power plants

Abstract

A survey to evaluate awareness of the nuclear security culture of personnel at nuclear facilities was developed. The survey was made up of a series of questionnaires that were divided into four categories, beliefs and attitude, operating systems, leadership behaviors and staff behaviors. Each category contained six to 16 questions. The category on beliefs and attitude was composed of questions that asked plant workers on how much consideration facility personnel give to issues of security when doing his/her work. The section pertaining to operating systems for nuclear security consisted of questions on guidance documents, information security, and education and training. The questions on leadership behaviors were separated into two parts, one for managers and another for staff. These include questions relating to communication between management and staff, surveillance work related to nuclear security and the sharing of information. The last category of questions concerned staff behaviors. It consisted of questions on knowledge, procedures and implementation related to nuclear security. A survey was conducted on 858 people who worked at nuclear power plants using the questionnaire that was developed in this study. The survey was performed between October 7 to 17, 2014. The survey results were collected and analyzed. A numerical value was given to each question, so that the results of the survey were represented as a score. The data revealed that awareness of the nuclear security culture increased with age. This increase stopped when staff members entered their 50s. It is believed that a person in his/her 50s has a greater degree of experience and passion for their work than someone who is younger. As a result, the scores on nuclear security were higher for older personnel than for those who were younger. There was no direct relationship between the awareness score and length of service. The survey results on the working periods showed that there were no clear trends. This changed after an employee had worked for 9years. After 9years service, the scores gradually increased. Those who have worked more than 11years were more aware of the importance of the security culture than those who worked less. On the subject of the awareness of the nuclear security culture between managers and staff, there were distinct differences. The results showed that managers were well aware of the importance of the nuclear security culture, and their scores for all categories were higher when compared to those of their staff.