Nuclear security culture: Meeting the needs of practitioners

Date: 2013-05-21

Venue: Erinvale Hotel , Somerset West , South Africa

From 21–23 May 2013, the University of the Witwatersrand, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) co-hosted with the US-based Partnership for Nuclear Security a nuclear security training workshop aimed at South African practitioners. A total of 40 participants (excluding resource persons and trainers) participated, including representatives of the following entities, which use nuclear material for peaceful purposes: Mzesi; Department of Health; Entomon Technologies; Eskom, which runs the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant; HEPRO; Infruitech; the iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences; the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, which runs the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Reactor; and SCIRAD Consulting.

Representatives of the following universities, all of which have various nuclear-related facilities, also attended: North-West University; Stellenbosch University; University of Cape Town; and the University of the Western Cape. Resource persons and trainers included representatives of the ISS, Wits University, Kings College (UK), Partnership for Nuclear Security (PNS, US), CRDF Global (US), National Nuclear Laboratory (UK), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), University of Pretoria, iTemba Labs, University of Georgia (US), and the Institute for Nuclear Security (US).

The first day consisted of an introduction to issues related to nuclear security culture and its importance for the operators of nuclear and radiological facilities, covering such issues as evolution and importance of a nuclear security culture; consequences of a weak nuclear security culture; overcoming the challenges of inadequate nuclear & radiological security cultures; nuclear security culture models – effective implementation and global examples; development of nuclear security culture models; and an overview of South Africa's disarmament and non-proliferation policies.

The second day focused on ‘human reliability and best practices in a nuclear security culture’, with the following sub-themes: human reliability and the global threat; review of global incidents and lessons learned; human reliability programme – case studies; novel approaches to training and evaluating security culture; and human resource development for nuclear security programmes.

The third day looked at how to measure nuclear security culture at the facility level: nuclear security culture – implementing guide; self-assessment of nuclear security culture; and applying self-assessment tools at the facility level. A closing panel discussed ‘developing effective managers of nuclear and radiological security culture’ and also identified potential future steps.