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Speakers are listed in alphabetical order within each session.
Day 1 : October 15, 2007: Ensuring political and institutional legitimacy
Welcome address and introductory remarks
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Moritz Leuenberger, Federal Minister, Head of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), Switzerland |
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CV on the DETEC website |
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Statement on behalf on the co-sponsors
Session 1: Keynote addresses on Strategic and policy developments
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INTRODUCTION |
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Walter Steinmann studied economics at the University of Zürich and obtained his degree in 1976. He then went on to pursue post-graduate studies on the interdependence of state and economy at the University of Konstanz, receiving a doctorate in social sciences in 1988. Between 1976 and 1981, Walter Steinmann held various academic positions, for the last three years as an assistant at the Institute for Local, Regional and National Planning at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In 1981, he became the delegate for economic development for the Canton of Basel-Land, then held a similar position in Canton Solothurn from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, he became head of the Office for Economics and Employment of Canton Solothurn, a position he held until 2001. Since July 2001, Walter Steinmann has been Director of the Federal Office of Energy in Bern. |
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Claude Birraux, Member of the French National Assembly, First Deputy-Chairman of the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment, France |
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Mr Claude Birraux has been elected to the French National Assembly since 1978 as a representative to the Haute-Savoie, near the border of Switzerland. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment and has held this office since 1998, except from 2002 to 2004 when he was Chairman. He recently joined the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly, after having previously been a member of the Commission of Economics Affairs. Mr Birraux holds a PhD in the Physics of Chemistry, and was from 1977 to 1978 an associate Professor at the University of Geneva. Since 1990, Mr Birraux has been actively involved in French nuclear policy, particularly in the fields of nuclear safety and waste management. As a member of the Parliamentary Office, he spearheaded fifteen reports on different related subjects such as : the nuclear safety regulatory system (1990), nuclear fuel and waste transportation system (1994), monitoring of radionucleide discharge into the environment (1994), low-level nuclear waste and radioprotection (1996), assessment of the European pressurized reactor (EPR) technology (1998), flooding risks at French nuclear plants (2000), converting military plutonium to civilian use (2002), nuclear power plant lifetime (2003), progress and prospects of research into radioactive waste management (2005). He was rapporteur, under the auspices of the Commission of Economics
Affairs of the National Assembly, for the law of 28 June 2006 concerning
the organization of sustainable management of radioactive materials
and waste in France. From this position, he played a key role in
designing French strategy in this field. This includes, among other
solutions, a scientific and thoroughly-studied choice of a deep
underground site for safe, geological disposal. |
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Torsten Carlsson, Chairman of the Swedish Council for Nuclear Waste (KASAM), Sweden |
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Torsten Carlsson was appointed in July 2007 Chair of the Swedish
Council for Nuclear Waste. |
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Luis Echávarri, Director-General of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) - See above |
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Kenji Ogiwara, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan |
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Mr. Ogiwara was born in 1969 in the Gumma Prefecture. In 1992 he
graduated from Waseda University. In 2004, he was elected as a Member
of the House of Councillors (HC) and in 2005, became a member of
the Committee on Education, Culture and Science, HC. In 2006, he
occupied the post of Director, Research Committee on Aged Society
with Declining Birthrate, HC, and was Acting Chairman of the Committee
on Organization Involved with Education, Culture and Sports of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In 2007 he became Vice-Minister
of Economy, Trade and Industry, both in the Abe Reshuffled Cabinet
and in the Fukuda Cabinet. |
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Greg Schulte, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the United States to International organisations in Vienna |
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Ambassador Greg Schulte serves as the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Office in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and other international organizations in Vienna. Having arrived on July 13, 2005, Ambassador Schulte is charged with advancing the President's agenda in countering proliferation, terrorism, organized crime, and corruption, while promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Appointed by President Bush in January 2003, Mr. Schulte served as Executive Secretary of the National Security Council through March 2005. He was responsible to Dr. Condoleezza Rice for overseeing the NSC staff, the national security decision-making process, and the White House Situation Room.
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Zoran Stančič, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Research, European Commission |
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Dr. Zoran Stančič is Deputy Director General in the European
Commission. Trained as an engineer he worked as a research assistant
in University of Ljubljana. Since 1994 he was Head of the Spatial
Information Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences. From 1990
till 2000 he was a research fellow or visiting professor at the
University of Arkansas, the Delft University of Technology, the
University of Reading, the Boston University, the University of
Trieste and the University of Paris 1. Zoran Stančič has
published seven scientific books and a number of scientific papers
on quantitative methods in archaeology and remote sensing. In 1999
- 2000 he was Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Centre
of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. From the year 2000
to 2004 he was Slovenian State Secretary for Science. |
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| Tomihiro Taniguchi, Deputy Director General, Nuclear Safety and Security, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | |
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Mr. Taniguchi graduated from the University of Tokyo with a major in nuclear engineering in 1968 and joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1968. During his thirty year career there, he contributed to establishment and development of regulatory regime to enhance the efficiency and the safety of nuclear energy utilization. As Deputy Director General in charge of nuclear policy, he was the Japanese Government's chief administrative officer on all aspects of commercial use of nuclear energy, including safety and regulation. Mr. Taniguchi's career at MITI included 12 years overseas working in international organizations and research institutions, including senior-level management and advanced research activities in the areas of energy, technology, and industry. Prior to his appointment to Deputy Director General for Nuclear Safety at the IAEA in August 2001, Mr. Taniguchi was the Executive Director of the Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation (NUPEC), supporting MITI and the nuclear industry in the areas of safety and technology. Mr. Taniguchi was also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo from 1998 to 2001 and served as the Vice-Chair of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). |
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Session 2: Panel-led discussion on strategic and policy experience
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Day 2 : October 16, 2007: Ensuring protection, creating trust and bringing national projects forward
Session 3: Societal aspects
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Session 4: Implementation aspects
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SESSION CHAIR |
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Marie-Claude Dupuis, CEO, National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA), France |
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Ms Dupuis, who is a general mining engineer, is a former student of the Polytechnic School and of the Paris Mining Engineering School. Early in her career, she became very deeply involved in various matters relating to the environment, to security and to quality. She started her professional activity in 1988 at the Regional Directorate for Industry and Research (Central Region) as officer in charge of controlling nuclear facilities. After six years at the General Directorate of Industrial Strategies within the Ministry of Industry, where she was Head of the Section for the Safety and Quality of Industrial Products, she joined the Pollution and Risk Prevention Division of the Ministry of the Environment, in 1998. Until 2005, she was Director of the Industrial Environment Service where she managed the control of industrial and agricultural facilities at the national level. Mrs Marie-Claude Dupuis has been elected Chairperson of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee of the OECD/NEA during its 40th plenary session on 16 March, 2007. |
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Kenneth E. Nash, Chairman, International Association for Environmentally Safe Disposal of Radioactive Materials (EDRAM) and President, Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), Canada |
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Ken Nash is a founding director of the NWMO and the immediate past-chair
of the organization's Board of Directors. He has held a number of
management positions at Ontario Hydro and Ontario Power Generation
in the areas of finance, engineering, and environmental management. Ken Nash is the current chairman of EDRAM, the International Association for Environmentally Safe Disposal of Radioactive Materials. |
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Edward F. Sproat, Director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), USA |
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Edward F. Sproat, III, was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate on May 26, 2006, as the Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. The Office is responsible for developing the Nation's waste disposal system for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, as mandated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Prior to Mr. Sproat's appointment he was the managing partner of McNeill, Sproat & Associates (MS&A) LLC in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. MS&A provided organizational and technology development solutions to growing energy firms. Mr. Sproat previously held the position of Vice President of International Projects for Exelon Generation, responsible for developing and managing Exelon's interests in various international generation ventures in the Republic of South Africa; and he held various management positions with Exelon's predecessor PECO Energy over the last 25 years. |
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Claes Thegerström, President of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) |
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Claes Thegerström is President of Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB, SKB, a company established by the Swedish nuclear utilities as a joint company for all matters related to spent fuel and nuclear waste management, including research, technical development and industrial implementation. Claes Thegerström has worked with matters related to nuclear
energy since the mid 70', both in Sweden and internationally, and
is a member of CNE, the French National Scientific Evaluation Committee. |
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Session 5: Regulatory aspects
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Session 6: Panel-led discussion
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PANEL CHAIR |
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Hans Forsström is Director of the Division Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology within the Department of Nuclear Energy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He joined the IAEA in April 2005. He has a Master of Science degree in Applied Physics from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He started his career as a reactor physicist in 1972 for the Ringhals 1 BWR. He then turned to the field of radioactive waste management. In 1979 he joined SKB, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company where he has held several different positions within research and development for waste management and disposal. During his last few years at SKB he was Technical Director with responsibility for the central Swedish Waste Management Systems and Facilities. From 1998 to April 2005 Hans Forsström worked in the European Commission as Head of Unit for Nuclear Fission and Radiation Protection in DG Research, where he was responsible for the implementation of the Euratom Framework programme for research and training activities on nuclear fission and radiation protection. |
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Carl-Reinhold Bråkenhielm, University of Uppsala and KASAM, Sweden |
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(in preparation) |
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Hans Issler, Chairman of the Board of Directors, National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA), Switzerland |
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Hans Issler (64) is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nagra, the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste. He studied natural science at the University of Zürich, graduating in nuclear physics. He then completed post-diploma studies in industrial engineering science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he worked for seven years as a consultant. In 1977, he became Managing Director of Nagra, a position which he held until May 2007. Between 2003 to 2005, he acted as Chairman of EDRAM, an association
of radioactive waste management organisations from 11 OECD countries.
For 16 years, he held the part-time position of Mayor of the community
where he resides. |
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Jukka Laaksonen, Director General of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Finland - See above |
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Jean-Paul Minon, General Manager of the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials ONDRAF/NIRAS |
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Jean-Paul Minon was appointed general manager of ONDRAF/NIRAS in
June 2006. He has been a lecturer at the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons
since 1982. |
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Born in Zurich in 1952, Kathy Riklin's background is in geology. She obtained a doctorate in natural sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and then moved into the field of education as a grammar school teacher. The world of politics then beckoned. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP), Kathy Riklin became a member of the National Council for the Canton of Zurich in 1999, a position she continues to hold today. She was also a member of the municipal council for the City of Zurich from 1982 to 2001. Her current parliamentary mandates include president of the commission for science, education and culture, membership of the commission for foreign affairs and membership of the EFTA delegation to the European Parliament. Kathy Riklin also holds positions in a wide range of educational, scientific and political bodies. In addition to involvement in groups looking at climate change, geothermal energy and environmental conservation, she is currently President of Forum VERA, an organisation promoting the technically safe and socially acceptable management of radioactive waste in Switzerland. |
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Manfred Thuman, Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Board of Axpo Holding AG, Switzerland |
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Manfred Thumann received his further education in Germany. He studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Munich and then went on to become a research assistant in the Department of Materials Science at the University of Ruhr Basin in Bochum, finally obtaining a Ph.D. in Engineering/Materials Science. He began his working career as a project scientist with a German aerospace establishment (DLR) in Cologne. He then moved to Switzerland to work at ALSTOM (Switzerland) Ltd. (formerly ABB) in Baden. He held various positions in the company, mainly in the area of gas turbine technology, finally becoming Department Head of Materials Technology for ABB Corporate Research. Since December 2003, he has worked for NOK Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG in Baden, where he holds the positions of Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Board of Axpo Holding AG. |
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Summary of the conference
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Werner Bühlmann, Vice-Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy |
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Dr. Werner Bühlmann received his law degree from the University of Zurich in 1971. In 1973, he was granted a practising certificate for the Canton of Zurich and, in 1975, went on to obtain a doctorate in law, also from the University of Zurich. His apprenticeship leading to the granting of his practising certificate was spent with the District Court of Bülach, after which, from 1973 to 1974, he acted as clerk of court for the Supreme Court of Canton Schaffhausen. In 1975, he joined a retail company as a legal adviser, a position he held for two years. Between 1978 and 1979, he was Vice-Director and legal adviser for a trust company. Werner Bühlmann joined the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (FOE) in 1980, where he was Head of Legal Services until the year 2000. Since then he has held the position of Head of the Legal Services and Safety Division and Member of the Board of Management. Since 2005, he has also been a Vice-Director of the FOE. |
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Claes Thegerström, President of the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) - See above |
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