Nuclear Decommissioning and Organisational Reliability: Involving Subcontractors in Collective Action

The concept of organisational reliability is at the heart of the safety of at-risk systems. Many studies have been conducted in the nuclear industry; all emphasise the study of plants in normal, daily operation or during shutdowns. However, decommissioning, whether ongoing or planned, places a sharp focus on the question. This is because, on the one hand operating companies make significant changes to their organisation to meet the challenges and requirements of decommissioning, on the other they must subcontract a large number of tasks related to the decommissioning. The use of subcontractors is not new; in the nuclear industry it became widespread in the 1990s and now represents more than 80% of activity [1]. However, the specificities of decommissioning lead to a re-examination of the overall organisation and the conclusion that subcontractors are a key player in its success.