A methodology for safety culture index assessment using minimal cut sets

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Safety Culture Impact Index (SCII) for several types of nuclear power plants in Korea. The SCII model can be used for measuring the changes of the core damage frequency which might be affected by the status of safety culture in nuclear power plants. In order to develop the SCII model, the safety culture indicators and their assessing method are developed and applied to a reference plant. The reference plants are selected and their basic events are evaluated according to the level of the impact of safety culture. The results include the procedure to obtain the safety culture impact index as well as the frequencies of accident sequences which are expressed by the logical combination of minimal cut sets. The SAREX code is used for producing safety culture impact index related to the plant status. The correlation between the basic events caused by the quality of safety culture has been analyzed in this study. The uncertainty in safety culture impact has been also analyzed. The developed SCII model might contribute to comparing the level of the safety culture among nuclear power plants as well as to improving the management safety of nuclear power plants.