Gérard Aleton is presently working with Areva NP as technical manager for future EPR reactors in China. Previously he was the technical manager for the EPR basic design development. Before that, he participated in the design and development of AREVA nuclear reactors and has been in charge of technical management of waste and decommissioning. His main experience lays in system design and new products development.

Chaim Braun has thirty three years of management and consulting experience in the electric and nuclear power industries emphasizing domestic and international power plant economics, and international nuclear power non-proliferation issues, particularly related to the U.S., East Asia and Eastern Europe. Chaim is currently a Science Fellow at Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) in Stanford University, Previously, Chaim has worked in Bechtel Power Corporation’s Nuclear Business Line, in United Engineers and Constructors (UE&C), in the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and in Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).

Jordan Duan is Director of China region, GE Energy Nuclear, based in Beijing. He has fifteen years of engineering and management work experience in the nuclear industry. Prior to joining GE, Duan was head of the Project Management Department at Asia Simulation & Control System Engineering Co. (ASC). In 1995, his project team won the China’s National Top 10 Distinguished Achievement Award in Science and Technology for the Qinshan NPP simulator project.

Duan received a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Reactor Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.

Mr Emmerechts works for the Legal Affairs Section of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. He has over 10 years experience in the electric and nuclear power sector.

He currently works extensively on nuclear energy law providing legal opinions and Secretariat services to the Nuclear Law Committee of the Nuclear Energy Agency and providing legal assistance to the Contracting Parties to the Paris and Brussels Supplementary Conventions on Nuclear Third Party Liability in connection with the recent revision of those instruments.

Before joining the OECD, Mr Emmerechts worked as a senior advisor for European Affairs at a major electricity company in Europe dealing with matters of domestic and foreign energy law, public law and policy, climate change and environmental matters.

Mr Emmerechts, a Belgian national, studied law at the Université de Namur (Belgium, LL.B), University College Cork (Ireland), University of Leuven (Belgium, Lic. Jur.) and University of Stellenbosch (South-Africa, LL.M). He is a member of the International Nuclear Law Association.

Abel J. González has worked in radiation protection for the last four decades, most recently as Director of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety, the senior radiation safety official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Previously, in his native Argentina, he was a Director of the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission and President of the Argentine Nuclear Power Plant Corporation. He is a founding member of the Argentine Radiation Protection Society.

Mr González was a member of International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Committee 4 from 1978 to 2000 and is currently an ICRP commisioner, member of the ICRP Main Commission. He is one of the longest serving participants of the United Nations Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). He is also member of the IAEA Commission on Safety Standards.

He has been honoured with a number of awards, notably: the IAEA Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his work for the International Chernobyl Project; the Morgan Award of the Health Physics Society (twice); the Lauriston S. Taylor Award of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements; and, most recently, the Sievert Award for outstanding contributions to the field of radiation protection.

Mr. González graduated in 1964 from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) with the highest diploma in engineering. In 1962, while still an undergraduate, he began his professional career as a staff member of the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) specializing in the fields of radiation protection, safety of radioactive waste management and of radioactive materials transport, and related aspects of nuclear safety.

Mr. Johannes Höbart is presently Managing Director of AREVA NP Brasil. He has a long lasting experience in the nuclear field. Since 1981 he has been working at Siemens/AREVA in different positions and business sectors such as System Engineering, Project Management, Documentation and Licensing for Nuclear Power Plants. He was also Manager of Licensing for the Fuel Fabrication Facility at Karlstein (Germany). Previously he worked in Germany as Director Sales and Marketing Brazil.

François is a Canadian with over twenty five years of professional and leadership experience mostly acquired in the energy sector. His areas of expertise include international energy economics, energy policies, electricity and gas markets, market reforms, and energy regulation.

He joined the IEA team of international energy experts as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Long Term Co-Operation and Policy Analysis. In this position, he is responsible for studying global electricity markets, focusing on nuclear, fossil-fuelled generation and renewable energy. He also provides expert advice on matters related to energy and environmental policies, supply security and diversification, market reforms and energy investments. Francois is currently responsible for the assessment of China’s power sector outlook, to be included in the publication World Energy Outlook 2007. He co-authored a book released by the IEA in May 2007 titled Tackling Investment Challenges in Power Generation in IEA countries.

Prior to joining the IEA, he was Team Leader — Electricity at the National Energy Board, the Canadian federal energy regulator. He also worked for the Quebec Department of Natural Resources and a major Canadian natural gas distributor.

François obtained a M.A in Economics from Queen’s University (Canada), a post-graduate degree in Business Management from McGill (Canada) and a B.A in Applied Econometrics from University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He served as the Canadian representative on APEC Energy Regulators Forum and is a member of the International Association for Energy Economics.

Sylvain St. Pierre joined the World Nuclear Association (WNA) — the trade association of the worldwide nuclear industry, based in London, UK — in 2003. He oversees environmental, radiological protection, waste management and decommissioning matters for WNA. He also is responsible for the development of policy statements on other Association issues. Mr. St. Pierre is on loan from Areva, the parent company to Cogema, which he joined in 2000. Working at the head office in Paris, France, he headed radiation protection for company-wide operations in the nuclear fuel-cycle business, including mining, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, and reprocessing.

Previously, Mr. St. Pierre worked for a Canadian environmental expert-consulting firm in Toronto where he conducted environmental, radiological protection, waste management and decommissioning assessments and other projects for a wide range of international and national clients from both nuclear and non-nuclear sectors. From 1998 to 2000, he worked for the uranium mining and milling operations of Cogema Resources in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, where he was head of radiation protection for challenging new high-grade uranium-ore operating sites and for decommissioned sites.

Mr. Saint-Pierre graduated in Physics Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada, in 1989.

Basma Shalaby is a Chemical Engineer with a M.A. Sc. in Chemical Engineering and an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Engineering from the University of Waterloo Canada. She has 32 years experience in the nuclear industry with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), in CANDU systems design and CANDU development.

Ms. Shalaby is currently holding the position of AECL Chief Engineer since 1997.

Prior to the Chief Engineer's position she has held many technical and management positions in the process design & process engineering and engineering development. In these positions her responsibilities included design of CANDU process and safety systems, engineering support to CANDU plant's commissioning and operation, product development and definition of the R&D requirements in support of the CANDU development.

She spent 2 years in the CANDU Owners' Group (COG) as the R&D Program Manager for CANDU Technology where R&D related to plant systems and components is being undertaken.

In 1995 Basma played a key role in the technical negotiation of the NSP scope for the Qinshan Unit 1 and 2 in China.

In 2005 Basma was awarded with the G.L. Brooks Engineering Award by AECL for exceptional practical engineering. In March 2004, Basma received the “Key Women in Energy” Global Wisdom Award.

She has numerous technical publications on CANDU technology design, development and plant life management.

Ferenc Toth is senior energy economist with the Planning and Economic Studies Section in the Department of Nuclear Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria and associate professor of the Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary. Toth's research interest covers policy analysis for socioeconomic development and for resource, energy, and environmental management, interactions between development and environment; methods to support economic and environmental policy analysis and decision making; mathematical and computer modeling of social, economic, and biogeophysical systems. He is working on several projects at IAEA that address various aspects of global environmental change and sustainable energy development, water and energy linkages, scenarios, and topics related to the development and use of nuclear technologies.

Dr. Yang Ruan is AECL Chief Representative and Director of Technical Programs, China. He joined Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) as Assistant to Chief Engineer in 1998, and later as Manager of CANDU Technical Exchange, Director of Technical Cooperation Programs and AECL Representative in Shanghai. Prior to joining AECL, he worked for GRS (the Institute for Nuclear Safety) in Germany, Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University in Japan, and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. Mr. Ruan received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Xi’an Jiaotong University, and doctorate from Technical University of Munich in Germany. He has more than 20 years experience working in nuclear energy application, primarily in research, engineering, project management, marketing and business development.

Andy White, Vice Chairman of the World Nuclear Association, is heading up the New Energy Ventures business unit at GE Energy. Previously he was President and CEO of GE Energy's nuclear business, located in Wilmington, North Carolina. He has over 25 years of experience with GE Energy. Andy White received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bath University, UK. In 1981, he joined GE as an Electrical Engineer in London, England. He has a wide range of experience in Energy Products, Technology and Services, having served as General Manager of Asia Services, General Manager of Global Operations & Maintenance Services and General Manager of Installation and Field Services.