There are two basic reasons why Safety Culture is needed in the nuclear power industry. The first being the industry's segmentation as a High-Risk Organization, and the second as a means to promote competitiveness through high-performance.

The Nuclear Power Industry is considered a High-Risk or High-Reliability Organization (HRO) because unexpected errors or accidents occurring during normal operations have the potential to cause harm to workers, the public or the environment. Other examples of HROs industries include Commercial Aviation and Aerospace, Chemical Processing, Maritime Shipping, Military Operations, Off-Shore Drilling, as well as Experimental Drugs and Surgery. Charles Perrow further segments the nuclear industry as "tightly coupled," explaining that the complexity of the technology and equipment employed create situations where negative events may rapidly deteriorate. Thus, HROs like the nuclear industry must do everything possible to avoid negative outcomes through prevention and preparedness. This is a morale obligation that is reinforced through a cadre of policy-making participants including plant leadership, industry professional groups, labor organizations, government regulatory bodies, and a variety of public interest groups.

The vast regulation and public policy considerations that influence the Nuclear Power Industry constrains the competitive options away from Technology, and more toward the allocation of Human Resources. This is a result of the regulatory requirements to share technological innovations and operating experience with other nuclear plant operators. Additionally, regulatory requirements mandate minimum staffing requirements for operating a nuclear power plant as well as managing a variety of contingencies. This results in nuclear power plants having an organizational staffing that is often 10 or more times the size of that of a comparable fossil fuel plant.

Thus, Safety Culture promotes a proactive environment that actively prevents radiological accidents, prepares for contingencies, reduces the costs of worker accidents and injuries, and creates a high-performance environment though total organizational participation in plant operations.