The SFEN JG (French Nuclear Society Young Generation) has been working actively to establish a strong and dynamic network. The SFEN JG has been aiming to share knowledge amongst the young professionals in the nuclear field through presentations in universities, interviews, visits and conferences. Another perspective is to share at the European and international level with our colleagues, remaining open for new possibilities and development lines for our network and willing to make the broad French nuclear industry available for some insight to our international counterparts.
Amongst our latest interviews, one can find the ones of Dominique Minière (EDF Senior Vice President, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and SFEN President) and of Thibault Labalette (Programme Director of ANDRA) – both in French. Our will to share internationally however also motivated leading some of our interviews in English for example the one of François Gauché (CEA) on the Sodium Fast Reactor ASTRID (see below).
Making French nuclear facilities accessible to our counterparts is also a major international objective. Our Belgian and Dutch colleagues had therefore the possibility to visit the La Hague and Flamanville site on October 2013, getting the chance to share a convivial dinner with young professionals and SFEN active members in the frame of this visit.
Our highest efforts for the last months have moreover been dedicated to the organisation of our annual event Atoms for the Future on Nuclear Energy and Power Grid, opening the debate to the different energy sources and the grid issues (flexibility need, volatility of Renewables, black-out situations, load-follow and impact on reactor design and emergency operation, etc.). What a better introduction for this conference dedicated to the 250 international participants than a motivating speech from Dominique Minière, sharing the good news on Hinkley Point project in the UK? This introductory speech set the mind frame of this conference, aiming to highlight the challenges yet to take and objectives to reach for young professionals. After two days of conferences with high-ranking speakers (Christophe Béhar, CEA Director of Nuclear Energy Division; Philippe Knoche, AREVA Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Executive Board; Michael Fuchs, E.ON Head of Technology; Ron Cameron, Head of OECD/NA Nuclear Development Division; Hadid Subki, IAEA Technical Lead for SMR Technology Development; etc.), 55 participants had also the opportunity to visit the sites of EDF Research Centre Les Renardières, the RTE Dispatching Centre and the NPP Dampierre. The great success of this conference is another motivating achievement and a step towards the organisation of the ENYGF2015 conference at European level.
In order to keep and share our strong motivation toward our colleagues around the world, the SFEN-JG is pleased to announce that Atoms for the Future 2014 topic will be “Design, construction and licensing of Nuclear Power Plants”. We will come back to you soon regarding this event, hoping many of you will attend our open and international conference!
