FORATOM welcomes new President, Dr Teodor Chirica

FORATOM is pleased to announce that Dr Teodor Chirica has been appointed by the association’s General Assembly as FORATOM President for a two-year period starting on 1 January 2018. Furthermore, Mr Esa Hyvärinen, Senior Vice President of Corporate Relations at Fortum, has been elected as Vice President for the same period.

“I look forward to the next two years working with the General Assembly, Executive Board, FORATOM Members and the Secretariat”, states Dr Chirica. “We have many challenges ahead of us, but I am certain that by working together and with our partners at EU level we will be successful. Indeed, nuclear energy is essential if Europe wants to meet its goals in terms of decarbonising the power sector, ensuring security of supply and stimulating growth and jobs in Europe.”

Dr Teodor Chirica has over 40 years’ experience in the Romanian nuclear energy industry. Actively involved in the development of the CANDU project in Romana since the early 70’s, Dr Chirica has worked for the CANDU Owners Group, ISPE, CITON and RENEL. Following this, he has served in different managerial positions at Nuclearelectrica (1998-2009) becoming CEO between March 2005 and January 2009. He also acted as Managing Director of AMEC Nuclear Romania (2009-2013) and as CEO of EnergoNuclear – SPV for Cernavoda Units 3 & 4 from November 2013. Since October 2017, Dr Chirica is Senior Adviser to the CEO of Nuclearelectrica. He holds a PhD in nuclear science from the Polytechnics University in Bucharest.  Dr Chirica has been instrumental in the setting up of the Romanian Atomic Forum (ROMATOM, 2000) and in its affiliation to FORATOM. He is a FORATOM Executive Officer since 2006 and FORATOM Vice President since 2017. In addition, since 2015, he acts as Special Advisor ROEC.

Teodor Chirica replaces Bertrand de L’Epinois, Senior Vice President for Safety Standards at AREVA, who has reached the end of his mandate as FORATOM President. FORATOM wholeheartedly thanks Bertrand de L’Epinois for his efforts over the last two years. 

About us: The European Atomic Forum (FORATOM) is the Brussels-based trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe. The membership of FORATOM is made up of 15 national nuclear associations and through these associations, FORATOM represents nearly 800 European companies working in the industry and supporting around 800,000 jobs.

For more information, please contact Jessica Johnson: jessica.johnson@foratom.org.