Published on Aug. 5, 2015 : The Denki Shimbun (The Electric Daily News)
Shojiro Matsuura
Chairman of JANSI

After a long absence, I had the opportunity late this June to attend a conference hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. “International Conference on Operational Safety: In the light of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident” was the topic embraced by this meeting. Some people point out that human factors are responsible not only for the operations of nuclear power stations, but also for roughly 70% of the accidents, failures, and deficiencies experienced at engineered systems/equipment that are predicated on well-developed technological foundations. As I expected, many of the presentations and discussions in the conference covered topics on organizational governance and nuclear safety culture.

What I have been seeing as the fundamental issue of these discussions is how the consistency develops between Western concepts and the characteristics of indigenous cultures. The former is the backbone of what contributed to the development of engineered systems and equipment as a result of modern civilization, and the latter stands as the historical background of organizational structures operating the systems and equipment.

With hopes to discuss about this issue on an international basis, when I was a member of the IAEA Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) I presented the following idea as an agenda to debate upon:

“Nuclear technology has become a globally appreciated product of civilization, but it has a western concept-based background. Meanwhile, bodies that operate nuclear facilities each have its own historical or cultural context of their communities. Whether or not these two concepts can be brought together and rendered consistent influences the safety and security of nuclear facilities. This is a topic that we could discuss in group debates.”

The proposal attracted strong interest of members from Western-culture regions, but eventually was not adopted because of the lack of approval from Asian region members. This was an unfortunate, yet intriguing outcome.

Discussions on nuclear safety culture have been more active of late. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that safety culture is being regarded precisely as the key human factor in assuring nuclear safety.

This movement further highlights my agenda mentioned earlier. Along with nuclear safety culture, the concept of radiation safety culture is recently becoming a topic for discussion as well. With this concept being covered, I see a need to reconsider the regional characteristics of safety culture, or the significance of indigenous safety cultures, as it were. This could perhaps be an issue comparable to the idea of “Wakon Yosai” – blending and rendering consistent the Japanese spirit and Western art – in which our ancestors took great pains with from the latter half of the 19th century to the early 20th century.

Incidentally, “safety culture” has been translated into Japanese as “Anzen Bunka,” but the words “culture” and “bunka” have vastly differing etymologies and hence do not match well. The roots of the word “culture” lies in cultivation, and strongly delivers a sense of indigenousness or regionalities. Meanwhile, “bunka” is derived from an ancient Chinese expression that refers to educating uncivilized areas. It embodies a Sinocentric concept, or a viewpoint of globalism, to put it into a modern context. This presumably is a result of the lack of a Japanese word equivalent to “culture,” but the Japanese phrase should have been developed upon referring back to the English word’s etymology.

Nuclear power generation has become widely accepted in relatively Westernized areas and nations, but the regions that are today planning to expand on or freshly introduce the use of nuclear power are comparatively behind in terms of westernization. The process of strengthening and improving safe use of nuclear power generation around the world requires the development of a nuclear safety culture that is consistent with or integrates Western concepts.

“Do” is Japan’s traditional wisdom of recognizing and handing down values, and is steadfastly maintained by such art forms as Budo (martial arts) or Sado (Japanese tea ceremony). I have no doubt that every region and country has their own wisdom of appreciating and inheriting their values. Harnessing them as groundwork to fabricate safety cultures at each region and blending or rendering them consistent with nuclear science and technology could allow for a safe nuclear culture that would provide further benefits for the humankind. Japan, being forced to endure the Fukushima Accident, has the privilege to serve as a pioneer for these efforts.

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