Organisations operating in the nuclear sector are subject to stringent and evolving safety regulations. A key shift in recent years is the growing recognition that nuclear safety depends not only on strict adherence to rigid standards but also on the capacity to respond proactively and adaptively to unforeseen events. Unit 1 explores this paradigm shift in depth, highlighting the importance of integrating both “Regulated” and “Managed” safety approaches to ensure an effective safety management.

This second Unit introduces essential concepts of organisational design and leadership.

This third Unit provides a systemic approach to managing complex projects, using nuclear decommissioning as a case study. It begins with project planning, which defines outputs, tasks, phases and performance indicators. Then, it explores project organising, focusing on roles, responsibilities and stakeholder governance. To manage complexity, the unit introduces the concept of a programme of projects, which decomposes large-scale efforts into manageable sub-projects. Since these projects face both structural and dynamic uncertainties, strategies must be adapted to their level of unpredictability—ranging from traditional planning to agile learning. The final part applies these principles to nuclear decommissioning, highlighting the tension between safety and efficiency, and the critical challenges posed by radioactive waste management.

Unit 4 explores where organisational uncertainty arises in complex projects and why this undermines classical planning-and-control approaches. Building on Unit 3’s insight that uncertainty is ubiquitous and imposes new demands on management and effectiveness, the unit introduces alternative managerial stances designed to cope with complexity. 

Nuclear Decommissioning Projects (NDP) are characterised by an intrinsic complexity that leads to specific challenges, thereby amplifying the overall difficulty of such undertakings. Unit 5 is specifically dedicated to the topic of Managing Complexity in NDPs: Key Challenges. It begins by offering an overview of NDP processes and the associated generic challenges, with particular emphasis on the need to strike a balance between flexibility and rigorous planning in order to maintain safety and efficiency over time. Secondly, Unit 5 revisits risk analysis in the context of the transition from operational status to complex decommissioning projects. Building on these foundations, the unit then focuses on three particularly prominent challenges within decommissioning projects: waste management strategy, human resource management, and knowledge management.

This third unit introduces three main challenges, which are critical for managers to identify, understand and address to achieve a successful practice of leadership for safety.

This fourth unit introduces three main challenges, which are critical for managers to identify, understand and address to achieve a successful practice of leadership for safety.