From July 5 through 9, the 10th International School on Safety Culture "Developing Leadership and Strong Culture for Safety in the Nuclear Industry" was held online by Rosatom Technical Academy.
The professionals and management of leading international organizations – the nuclear industry representatives from Russia, Slovakia, France, Finland, Japan, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and the USA - took part in the work of the Anniversary School.
The welcome speeches were delivered by Caroline Pike, Expert on Safety Culture and Leadership of the Nuclear Safety and Security Department, IAEA; Vasily Aksenov, WANO-MC Director; Tatiana Terentieva, Deputy Director General for Human Resources, ROSATOM; Sergey Adamchik, Inspector General of ROSATOM; and Yuri Seleznev, Rector of Rosatom Technical Academy.
“The 10th International School on Safety Culture is already a tradition. The key point of safe and reliable operation of the nuclear industry is for people to understand that safety culture is an integral component of production. Work with people is above all!" Sergey Adamchik emphasized.
In her speech, Caroline Pike highlighted the importance of studying the impact of leadership on safety culture, “The International School gives an opportunity to shape the today's understanding of the concept ‘leadership for safety’. On the School’s platform, this issue can be considered by both contractors and suppliers. Moreover, the topics of the School are related to both human and organizational aspects in terms of safety. We may also learn about the tools that managers of organizations apply to strengthen the safety culture."
“We need to keep in mind that in the nearest future people born in the early 21st century will work at nuclear power plants. They were educated differently, they have different thinking and attitude to life. How can we integrate the tomorrow's young specialists into the existing system of NPP operation, which has been built by the previous generations of nuclear workers for many years?" Vasily Aksenov highlighted one of the current problems of the safe development of the nuclear industry.
Greg Lamarre, Head of the Division of Radiological Protection and Human Aspects of Nuclear Safety, NEA/OECD, talked on the activities in the development of safety culture in the NEA member countries. The professionals from nuclear power plants of Finland, enterprises of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom" and other organizations delivered their reports as well.
Summing up the results of the International School for Safety Culture, Tatiana Terentieva, Deputy Director General for Human Resources, ROSATOM, emphasized that the key role in fostering safety culture belongs to managers of organizations, who by their example involve the personnel in the development of safety culture. “The International School is an important addition to the programme of ROSATOM aimed at addressing the safety and security issues of the industry.
The long-term cooperation with the IAEA allows Rosatom Technical Academy to generalize the international experience and domestic best practices in the development of safety culture on the platform of the International School. I especially want to emphasize that it is important for all the participants to unite when solving the current problems in safety and to implement the best practices in organizations,” Tatiana Terentieva said.