Development and testing of a nuclear regulator safety culture perception survey

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inquiry into the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2012 identified the culture of the regulator as a contributing factor. The recognition of the importance of regulator safety culture has resulted in the development of international guidelines on assessment by the IAEA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These guidelines encourage nuclear regulators to conduct multi-method safety culture self-assessments, which include a safety culture perception survey. Currently, there is no publicly available regulator safety culture perception survey that has been psychometrically tested. The current paper describes the initial testing of a perception survey developed by an IAEA working group. A literature review developed an initial 11-dimension framework. Subject matter experts developed 144 survey items to assess these dimensions. The 144 items were evaluated by safety culture experts and reduced to 71 items. A sample of 114 nuclear regulators completed this survey. The results of statistical analysis supported a five-factor model retaining 34 survey items.