Self-Assessment of Security Culture for Users of Radioactive Sources

Since 2001, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other organizations involved in security of nuclear facilities and radioactive sources, have been using the term “Security Culture.” In 2008 the IAEA defined that term in their Nuclear Security Series (NSS) #7, “Implementing Guide on Nuclear Security Culture.” The Center for International Trade and Security (CITS) at the University of Georgia, USA, participated in the development of a follow-on IAEA technical guidance document entitled “Self- Assessment of Nuclear Security Culture in Facilities and Activities that Use Nuclear and/or Radioactive Material”. In 2013, Indonesia’s National Nuclear Agency (BATAN), volunteered to cooperate with the IAEA and CITS to test this assessment methodology at their three research reactors. In the Spring of 2014, CITS and BATAN released their own report “Human Dimension of Nuclear Security for Radioactive Sources: From Awareness to Culture.” The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malaysia together with IAEA, CITS and BATAN in the fall of 2014, agreed to initiate a pilot project for assessing Security Culture in medical institutions who use Category 1 and 2 radioactive sources. Accordingly in December 2014, a workshop was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sponsored by the Ministry of Health and CITS with expertise from IAEA and BATAN Center for Security Culture and Assessment (CSCA) to lay the groundwork for pilot self- assessment projects at several medical and blood irradiation institutions in Malaysia. This paper describes the events leading up to and through the preliminary actions undertaken to initiate Security Culture evaluation at medical institutions. This pioneering effort in Malaysia is being done in advance of publishing the IAEA NSS document on self-assessment, but both the efforts in Malaysia and Indonesia support the general concept of the methodology and both will serve as beacons for implementation around the world in the future.