FORATOM General Assembly Appoints New President

The FORATOM General Assembly appointed a new President on 15 December 2015. Bertrand de L’Epinois, Senior Vice President for Safety Standards at AREVA, will serve for a period of two years starting on 1 January 2016.

Bertrand de L’Epinois is 52 years old and has the rank of ingénieur en chef au Corps des mines. After graduating from the Ecole des Mines de Paris, he started his career in 1989 within the French nuclear safety authority (ASN) as head of the 900 MW reactor department. From 1994 to 2002, he worked at the General Directorate for Energy and Raw Materials at the French Ministry of Industry. He then moved to Thales Underwater Systems in 2002 as the Competitiveness Director and then General Sonar Study Director. During this period, he was also Vice-Chairman of the Maritime Technology Cluster. In 2007, he was appointed Director for the SESAR European programme and Chairman of the Air Traffic Alliance grouping between Airbus, Thales and EADS. In September 2011, he joined Areva as Senior Vice President for Safety Standards.

Bertrand de L’Epinois replaces Keith Parker, Chief Executive of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association, who has reached the end of his mandate as FORATOM President. Keith Parker will stay within the FORATOM governing system in the position of Past President. FORATOM deeply appreciates all of Keith Parker’s efforts over the last two years.

FORATOM acts as the voice of the European nuclear industry in energy policy discussions with EU Institutions and other key stakeholders. It provides a bridge between its members and European policy-makers, thereby helping the industry to play a leading role in the policy debate.