Applying a Systems Engineering Approach to Integration of Nuclear Safety Culture and Nuclear Security Culture Requirements

The concept of integrating nuclear safety culture and nuclear security culture guidance (where practical) has been discussed by organizations, enterprises, and experts in the field as a favorable method for coordinating and harmonizing programs. The basis for this concept is that a degree of integration of cultures will provide opportunity to streamline programs, share resources, and enhance implementability by cooperative arrangements. However, the actual practice of integration of the two cultural programs can be challenging, especially in areas where safety and security may have conflicting objectives. It may be advantageous to apply a proven methodology such as those provided by systems engineering techniques and tools established for the management and integration of requirements as the basis for the coordination and harmonization process.At the highest level of consideration, there appears to be a high degree of correlation between nuclear safety culture and nuclear security culture guidance elements. In some instances this correlation breaks down upon closer inspection of the constituent components of each of the safety or security guidance elements, depending primarily upon the type of nuclear operation or installation to which this correlation is applied. Using the principles of systems engineering requirements management, these higher level elements of guidance may be defined and captured in the same manner that design requirements are handled, deconstructed into contributing elements, and then compared for integration at lower levels of granularity. These lower level elements then may be analyzed for components of similarity, synthesized into integrated elements, and developed into integrated requirements, i.e. nuclear safety/security culture guidance.