Resumen de La cultura organitzativa i de seguretat de la indústria nuclear espanyola. Una aproximació descriptiva basada en 20 anys d'avaluacions independents de la cultura de seguretat
Post-accident analyses of the most important nuclear accidents (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima) have revealed that the causes of incidents involving complex technological systems are not only linked to technical aspects, but also to seemingly more imperceptible factors, such as human behavior or organizational culture which play an important role in their development (Rasmussen, 1997).
In the Spanish nuclear industry, the study of incidents such as the fire in the turbine building at Vandellòs I NPP (1989), the corrosion of the cooling systems at Vandellòs II NPP (2004) and the release of radioactive material at Ascó I NPP (2008), has also evidenced the influence of the human and organizational component in the safe operation of the facilities.
In this context, the purpose of this doctoral thesis is to try to identify characteristic features of the culture of Spanish nuclear organizations based on the analysis of the results of the external evaluations of the organizational and safety culture carried out in the sector.
Knowledge of these cultural traits can help to understand human behavior in a context where safety must be one of the organization's goals.
To this end, three specific objectives are proposed in the three empirical studies that make up the thesis: 1) To describe the organizational culture of the Spanish nuclear industry and identify the possible existence of different subcultures within the industry (Badia, Navajas and Losilla, 2020).
2) To describe some of the relevant factors for the development of safety culture characteristics based on three theories on complex organizations (Badia, Navajas and Losilla, 2021).
3) To identify, in a case study, the factors that determine the reporting behavior of personnel in the problem reporting system (Navajas and Badia, 2020).
This thesis provides knowledge on some of the normative patterns and cultural traits of the Spanish nuclear industry that impact on the safety of the facilities. This knowledge can be used by the industry for the improvement of plant performance and safe operation.
In this sense, the cultural similarity between nuclear power plants could be considered by the different organizations to work collectively to optimize their operation. Sharing actions in the field of human and organizational factors and looking for strategies to manage cultural variability could not only be a be a key factor for safety, but would also allow them to jointly address the challenges they face with the progressive withdrawal of nuclear power energy.
Likewise, this thesis opens new lines of research aimed at deepening some of the findings obtained, such as the management of cultural differences between groups by organizations or the study of the influence of different cultural interactions on safety.
