Forum on Safety Culture was held in Minsk

On September 11–12 2025, a Forum on conducting research to identify national characteristics affecting safety, which must be taken into account when developing safety culture models in organizations involved in the peaceful use of nuclear technology, was held in Minsk at the Educational Center of Life Safety of the MES.

This Forum was organized by the CIS Member States’ Base Organization for Nuclear Infrastructure Development operating under the CIS Member States’ Commission on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy and supported by the Department for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the MES of the Republic of Belarus and Obninsk Research Centre “Prognoz”. The event was aimed at enhancing competencies and exchanging experience in the field of assessing and developing safety culture and leadership.

The key objective of the event was to determine the significance of the Belarusian national context in regard to safety while conducting works in the nuclear industry organizations of the Republic of Belarus.

The forum was attended by about 70 representatives from more than 15 organizations, including nuclear energy regulatory bodies, technical support and energy system organizations, as well as higher educational institutions.

Ms. Olga Lugovskaya, Head of Gosatomnadzor, welcomed the participants and noted that technical knowledge alone is no longer sufficient for the safe operation of nuclear facilities. At the present stage, a developed worldview unique to the nuclear industry and formally defined by the term “safety culture” is required.

In his address to the Forum participants, Mr. Yevgeny Sobolev, Executive Secretary of the CIS Commission on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy, noted that although all countries respect the IAEA leadership, each state has certain national characteristics that are important to understand and take into account in a timely manner.

The event was moderated by Mr. Eduard Volkov, Director of Obninsk Research Centre “Prognoz”, who outlined the fundamentals of safety culture and shared best practices of incorporating safety culture into the management systems of nuclear industry organizations.

Ms. Tatyana Melnitskaya, Chief Expert on Safety Culture at Rosatom Technical Academy, discussed safety culture in the context of Russian national culture. She emphasized the significance of assessing national influence on safety culture and taking measures to build on its strengths.

Special attention was paid to national cases. Issue-related reports were presented by Mr. Sergei Gruntov, Senior Researcher at the Department of Ethnology of the Centre for Research on Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, and Ms. Natalia Balich, Head of the Department of Regional Sociology at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

Aiming to develop practical skills, participants examined the main factors contributing to the safe operation of nuclear industry organizations, formation of national characteristics affecting safety and reliability, and the influence of national traits on organizational behavior focused on ensuring safety.

It is expected that the event will result in the expansion of knowledge, improvement of skills, and experience exchange in the field of safety culture development as key component of NPP safety.

The Forums is the first in a planned series on this topic. In the future, it is intended to expand the forums to other CIS countries, primarily Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The Forum materials will be available on the CIS Commission portal at: sng-atom.com.