• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.247-261
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• 2016

Objective:The aim of this paper is to discuss the nuclear safety culture in Korea. Background: Recently, Korean nuclear field has met a strong anti-nuclear trend after a few happenings, as well as Fukushima accident, which are turned out to be caused by organizational pitfalls and safety culture defects in general. Method: We review the concepts and constructs of safety culture based on the brief history of the nuclear safety culture that IAEA mainly raised after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Additionally, we give a comparative discussion on the approach to the safety culture with U.S. Results: Finally, we discuss the three technical domains and propose six selected domestic issues related to the nuclear safety culture for coping with the demanding requests on nuclear safety in Korea. Conclusion and Application: We suggest several recommendations and a research direction in the form of a re-start line for the nuclear safety culture in Korea.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.263-275
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• 2016

Objective: This paper introduces the regulatory oversight approaches and issues to consider in the course of safety culture oversight model development in the nuclear field. Common understanding on regulatory oversight and present practices of international communities are briefly reviewed. The nuclear safety culture oversight model of Korea is explained focusing on the development of safety culture definition and components, and their basic meanings. Oversight components are identified to represent the multiple human and organizational elements which can affect and reinforce elements of defense in depth system for nuclear safety. Result of validation study on safety culture components is briefly introduced too. Finally, the results of the application of the model are presented to show its effectiveness and feasibility. Background: The oversight of nuclear licensee's safety culture has been an important regulatory issue in the international community of nuclear safety regulation. Concurrent with the significant events that started to occur in the early 2000s and that had implications about safety culture of the operating organizations, it has been natural for regulators to pay attention to appropriate methods and even philosophy for intervening the licensee's safety culture. Although safety culture has been emphasized for last 30 years as a prerequisite to ensure high level of nuclear safety, it has not been of regulatory scope and has a unique dilemma between external oversight and the voluntary nature of culture. Safety culture oversight is a new regulatory challenge that needs to be approached taking into consideration of the uncontrollable aspects of cultural changes and the impacts on licensee's safety culture. Although researchers and industrial practitioners still struggle with measuring, evaluating, managing and changing safety culture, it was recognized that efforts to observe and influence licensees' safety culture should not be delayed. Method: Safety culture components which regulatory oversight will have to focus on are developed by benchmarking the concept of physical barriers and introducing the defense in depth philosophy into organizational system. Therefore, this paper begins with review of international regulatory oversight approaches and issues associated with the regulatory oversight of safety culture, followed by the development of oversight model. The validity of the model was verified by statistical analysis with the survey result obtained from survey administration to NPP employees in Korea. The developed safety culture oversight model and components were used in the "safety culture inspection" activities of the Korean regulatory body. Results: The developed safety culture model was confirmed to be valid in terms of content, construct and criterion validity. And the actual applicability in the nuclear operating organization was verified after series of pilot "safety culture inspection" activities. Conclusion: The application of the nuclear safety culture oversight model to operating organization of NPPs showed promising results for regulatory tools required for the organizations to improve their safety culture. Application: The developed oversight model and components might be used in the inspection activities and regulatory oversight of NPP operating organization's safety culture.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.75-84
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• 2016

Objective: The aim of this study is to suggest some improvement ideas based on the validity and the reliability analyses of the current safety culture measurement method applied to the Korean nuclear power industry. Background: Wrong safety culture is known as one of the major causes of the disasters such as the space shuttle Columbia disaster or the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident. Assessment of safety culture of an organization is important to build a safer organizational environment as well as to identify the risks hidden in the organization. Method: A face validity of the current safety culture measurement method was analyzed by comparison of the key factors of safety culture in the Korean nuclear power industry with those factors reviewed in the previous studies. The current interview method was analyzed to identify the problems which degrade the consistency of evaluation. Results: Most safety culture factors reviewed in the literatures are covered in the list of the Korean nuclear power industry safety culture factors. However the unstructured questions used in the interview may result in inconsistency of safety culture evaluation among interviewers. Conclusion: This study suggests some examples which might improve the consistency of interviewers' evaluation on safety culture such as a post interview evaluation form. Application: An extended post interview evaluation form might help to increase the accuracy of the interviewing method for Korean nuclear industry safety culture evaluation.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.174-180
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• 2015

This study developed a Safety Culture Impact Assessment Model (SCIAM) which consists of a safety culture assessment methodology and a safety culture impact quantification methodology. The SCIAM uses safety culture impact index (SCII) to monitor the status of safety culture of the NPPs periodically and it uses relative core damage frequency (RCDF) to present the impact of safety culture on the safety of the NPPs. As a result of applying SCIAM to the reference plant (Kori 3), the standard for the healthy safety culture of the reference plant is suggested. SCIAM might contribute to improve the safety of the NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants) by monitoring the status of safety culture periodically and presenting the standard of healthy safety culture.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2067-2076
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• 2022

The importance of safety culture has been emphasized to achieve a high level of safety. In this light, a systematic method to more properly deal with safety culture is necessary. Here, a decision-making tool that can apply a graded approach to the analysis of safety culture is proposed, called the F-D matrix, which determines the frequency and the difficulty of safety culture attributes recently defined by the IAEA. A hierarchical model of difficulty contributors was developed as a scoring standard, and its elements were weighted via expert evaluation using the analytic hierarchy process. The frequency of the attributes was derived by analyzing reported events from nuclear power plants in the Republic of Korea. Period-by-period comparisons with the F-D matrix can show trends in the change of the maturity level of an organization's safety culture and help to evaluate the effectiveness of previously implemented measures. In the evaluating the difficulty of the attributes in the recently developed harmonized safety culture model, the difficulties of Trending, Benchmarking, Resilience, and Documentation and Procedures were found to be relatively high, while the difficulties of Conflicts are Resolved, Ownership, Collaboration, and Respect is Evident were found to be relatively low. A case study was conducted with an analysis period of 10 years to attempt to reflect the many changes in safety culture that have been made following the Fukushima accident in March 2011. As a result of comparing two periods following the Fukushima accident, the overall frequency decreased by about 40%, providing evidence for the effects of the various improvements and measures taken following the increased emphasis on safety culture. The proposed F-D matrix provides a new analytical perspective and enables an in-depth analysis of safety culture.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권6호
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• pp.1696-1707
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• 2019

This paper conducts a qualitative policy analysis of current challenges to safety culture and security culture in Southeast Asia and emerging best practices in Northeast Asia that are aimed at strengthening both cultures. It analyses lessons, including strengths and limitations, that can be derived from Northeast Asian states, given the long history of nuclear energy in South Korea, China and Japan. It identifies and examines best practices from Northeast Asia's Nuclear Security Centres of Excellence in terms of boosting nuclear security culture and their relevance for Southeast Asia. The paper accentuates the important role of the State in adopting policy and regulatory frameworks and in institutionalising nuclear education and training programmes to deepen the safety-security cultures. Best practices in and challenges to developing a nuclear safety culture and a security culture in East Asia are examined using three frameworks of analysis (i) a comprehensive nuclear policy framework; (ii) a proactive and independent regulatory body; and (iii) holistic nuclear education and training programmes. The paper argues that Southeast Asian states interested in harnessing nuclear energy and/or utilising radioactive sources for non-power applications must develop a comprehensive policy framework on developing safety and security cultures, a proactive regulatory body, and holistic nuclear training programmes that cover both technical and human factors. Such measures are crucial in order to mitigate human errors that may lead to radiological accidents and nuclear security crises. Key lessons from Japan, South Korea and China such as best practices and challenges can inform policy recommendations for Southeast Asia in enhancing safety-security cultures.

• 한국시스템다이내믹스연구
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.51-74
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• 2014

Despite the high efficiency of nuclear power plant, people in Korea do not give approvals and supports the facilities because the risk of the accidents and incidents. In particular, the low level of safety culture is a crucial mechanism that damages the robustness of the NPP. By considering the various definitions of safety culture and analyzing the major reasons of incidents, the conceptual safety culture model is made by using Causal Loop Diagramming. For sustaining development of nuclear power, social supports, incentives and organizational learning are needed. It also requires the coordination of work schedules and the expansion of human resource for protecting the rules and procedures in NPP. Decommissioning aging nuclear power plants will prevent a serious accident. In order to promote the safety culture, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corporation should disclose more information to the public and promote the internal and external communications.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.77-86
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study is to grasp the fundamental structure of incident occurrence in nuclear organizations based on system thinking, and analyze how various causes are interrelated in terms of the causal loop diagram. Background: The recent domestic and overseas nuclear power plant-related incidents and accidents are directly or indirectly associated with safety culture, and thus effective plans for the improvement of safety culture are being called for. While the safety of a nuclear power plant is highly dependent upon technology and equipment, the utilization, maintenance and inspection of the technology and equipment are conducted by workers of the nuclear power plant. Method: Methodology of system thinking perspective using causal loop analysis. Results: As a result of the analysis, first, it turned out that the fundamental cause of incident occurrence in nuclear organizations is time constraint. Second, if a workload of workers increases, their adherence to regulations and procedures comes to be reduced due to time constraint. Third, it is needed, through organizational learning education, to increase actions made from thoughts considering safety as the utmost priority in advance. Fourth, it is necessary to improve professionalism by enhancing educational programs for new workers, and to develop various scenarios with which they can cope with certain situations. Application: This paper provides a base for system dynamics simulation model for future study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.3628-3638
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• 2023

This paper uses 135 Licensed Operator Event Reports (LOER) from Chinese nuclear plants to analyze how safety culture affects unsafe behaviors in nuclear power plants. On the basis of a modified human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) framework, structural equation model (SEM) is used to explore the relationship between latent variables at various levels. Correlation tests such as chi-square test are used to analyze the path from safety culture to unsafe behaviors. The role of latent error is clarified. The results show that the ratio of latent errors to active errors is 3.4:1. The key path linking safety culture weaknesses to unsafe behaviors is Organizational Processes → Inadequate Supervision → Physical/Technical Environment → Skill-based Errors. The most influential factors on the latent variables at each level in the HFACS framework are Organizational Processes, Inadequate Supervision, Physical Environment, and Skill-based Errors.

• 에너지공학
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.50-63
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• 2017

복잡하고 다양한 계통으로 구성된 원자력발전소에서의 안전문화 저하 징후는 설비의 안전성능 저하를 유발할 수 있으며, 이에 대한 적절한 후속조치가 없을 경우 대형 사고를 발생시킬 수 있는 잠재적 원인이 된다. 따라서 원전의 안전성능에 대한 감시와 더불어 조직 및 관리측면에서의 안전문화를 모니터링 함으로써 안전문화 저하 징후를 파악할 필요가 있다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 원전 문제점 혹은 사건이 발생할 경우, 설비 측면보다는 조직의 안전문화관점에서 사건의 근본원인에 기여한 안전문화 취약요소를 평가하여 개선할 수 있는 사건기반 평가 방법론을 정립하였다. 이를 위해 국내 외 산업계에서 활용되고 있는 평가사례들을 검토하여 국내 원전 실정에 적합한 평가 방법론을 제안하였다.