Advancing Nuclear Regulatory Effectiveness: Integrating Leadership for Safety Into Nuclear Oversight Functions

Leadership for safety is a critical yet often underexplored element in nuclear safety, particularly within nuclear regulatory authorities (NRAs). While technical aspects of safety have received extensive attention, the sociotechnical complexities that shape regulatory effectiveness remain insufficiently addressed. This review examines how leadership for safety can support core regulatory functions like review and assessment, development and enforcement of regulatory requirements and inspection of nuclear installations while also mitigating challenges faced by middle managers and frontline staff. Emphasising principles such as ethical leadership, mindfulness, meaning‐making and participatory decision‐making, the paper highlights leadership as a vital enabler of sound judgement, transparency and safety culture. It advocates for the systematic integration of leadership for safety education at all levels of NRAs as essential to strengthening both technical and human performance in nuclear safety oversight.