Accessing the Impact of National Cultures on Nuclear Security for Deployment of Advanced Reactors in Sub-Saharan Africa

Understanding culture and the human experience across borders is a vast task, requiring careful attention to tradition, values, and most importantly, people. In business and particularly in the fields of science—through research, technology, and innovation—exemplary communication has paved the way for great leaps and bounds of achievement. Currently, only South Africa operates a nuclear plant on the African continent, which is anticipated to change within the next few years. The International Atomic Energy Agency has projected that African countries constitute a third of the total 30 countries worldwide that have indicated interest or are considering the deployment of nuclear power. These countries are looking to improve their socioeconomic growth, as well as for a clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy source and a means for climate change mitigation obligations. With advances in communication technology, spreading the benefits of nuclear power to the masses is an achievable goal and is in progress. However, the notion of nuclear technology and nuclear energy can be intimidating to those who are not familiar with its vast benefits. The transmission of ideas, protocols, safety measures, and training is necessary and must be done in a fashion that is universally clear, concise, and effective. This calls for efficiency in language and layout of documents in the realm of communication through text and the efficiency of language in spoken communication, which includes and is heavily influenced by culture. The field of nuclear security is no different. As such, using the cultural dimensions provided by the research and forward-thinking, trainers can become better acquainted with the societal environment that embarking countries experience. When engaging with other cultures, it is important to value, respect, and unbiasedly allow the information to penetrate the consciousness of the mind so that it can be, without emotion, observed and comprehended. Through the lens of Geert-Hofstede’s National Culture Dimensions, this paper assesses, presents, and conceptualizes information about selected countries focusing on the influence that culture might have on nuclear security for the deployment of advanced reactors in the region.