Speakers

Baiba Miltovica has been appointed in 2020 President of the “Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and Information Society” Section (TEN) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). At the same time, Ms Miltovica serves as Board Member of the Latvian National Association for Consumer Protection (LPIAA) and actively co-operates with the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) on the European Commission Horizon 2020 and DG Justice and Consumers projects. She is member of the European Consumer Consultative Group (ECCG) of the European Commission, subgroup on Energy and Sub-Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI), connected products and other new challenges in product safety.

In her previous mandate at the EESC, Ms Miltovica held a position as Vice-President of the Diversity Europe Group of the European Economic and Social Committee and was an active member of TEN, appointed Rapporteur of 6 opinions (on energy and climate policy, energy performance of buildings, internal gas market, heating and cooling, etc.) and of the Single Market, Production and Consumption Section (INT) and Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion Section (ECO) of the EESC.

At the national level Baiba Miltovica continues to fulfil responsibilities in the LPIAA and is Member of the Advisory Board of the Latvian Public Utilities Commission.

Ms Miltovica holds a degree in political science and lectures at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Economics and Social Development.

Rosalinde van der Vlies is the Director of the Clean Planet Directorate in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and Deputy Mission Manager of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

Before her appointment as Director, Ms. van der Vlies was the Head of Coordination & Interinstitutional Relations Unit, and acting Head of the Communication & Citizens Unit.

Previously she held positions in Directorate-General Environment, Directorate-General Justice and Home Affairs, and in the private office of Janez Potočnik, the European Commissioner for the environment.

Before joining the European Commission, she worked as a competition lawyer in an international law firm in Brussels and was a part-time teacher at the Catholic University in Brussels.

Seif has worked for more than 15 years in the decommissioning and the radioactive waste management field. He graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris in France in 2009, then joined the CEA of Marcoule as a PhD student and obtained his degree in Civil Engineering from the Université de Toulouse Paul Sabatier on the development of a decontamination process for radioactive concrete structures in 2012. He then did an 18-month postdoctoral fellowship at the IRSN, the French Technical Support Organisation, in Fontenay-aux-Roses on the modelling of two-phase flows in clay formations using Lattice-Boltzmann models.

From 2015, he has worked for 6 years in the RD&D department of the Belgian Waste Management Organisation, ONDRAF/NIRAS.  The scope of his duties included the disposability assessment of conditioned radioactive waste, the development of cementation processes for radioactive waste streams and research projects related to the behavior of the EBS in a deep geological repository.

In January 2021, Seif has joined the Euratom Unit of the Directorate General Research and Innovation at the European Commission as a Policy and Scientific Programme Officer. He has been since then the project officer of all EC co-funded projects related to radioactive waste management and decommissioning.

Jan Panek is Director for Nuclear Energy, Safety and ITER in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy since February 2021. He previously served since 2005 as Head of Unit in Directorates-General for Energy and for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission, dealing in turns with oil and coal, energy market monitoring, retail energy markets, project ITER, and consumer protection policies.

Jan Panek joined the European Commission in 2005 following an earlier career in the diplomatic service of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs during which he occupied positions in the Ministry’s headquarters as well as in Czech diplomatic missions in Tokyo and Brussels. He also spent several years in the 1990s with the Boston Consulting Group as Associate Consultant and Consultant in its London and Central European offices.

Jan Panek holds a B.Sc. in Applied Geophysics from Charles University in Prague and an M.A. in International Economics/A.F.P. from The Johns Hopkins University – S.A.I.S. in Washington, D.C. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Ulla Engelmann has obtained a phD in radiochemistry at the technical university of Karlsruhe (today KIT, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology) in 1992.

She then started as a postdoc in JRC Ispra in the Tritium laboratory, and moved to heading the PR department in JRC Ispra in 1997. From 2004 she worked in different Head of Unit functions in JRC, including communication, international and interinstitutional relations. She moved to DG GROW (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs) in 2017, where she held different functions with responsibility for SME networks, such as industrial clusters and Entreprise Europe Network, entrepreneurship, social economy and industrial forum and she was one year acting Director for networks and governance. Since 2023 she is JRC Karlsruhe Site Director (employer) and JRC Director G for Nuclear Safety and Security with units based in Karlsruhe (D), Geel (B), Petten (NL) and Ispra (I).

The mission of the JRC (DG Joint Research Centre) Directorate G for Nuclear Safety and Security is the implementation of the JRC Euratom Research and Training Programme, the JRC Nuclear Strategy and the maintenance and dissemination of nuclear competences in Europe to serve both ''nuclear'' and ''non-nuclear'' EU Member States. She manages an annual budget (excl. staff cost) of around 40 M€ and 320 staff distributed over 4 sites.

Jaroslava Pravdová is Head of the Safety of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle unit in the Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC). She is based at the JRC Karlsruhe site (Germany). 

The Unit conducts research in the field of fuel safety and radioactive waste management, as defined in the EURATOM Research and Training Programme.

Her main areas of activity are related to:

• radioactive waste management
• safety of nuclear fuel for current and advanced reactor systems
• severe accidents.

Educational background:

-Chemical Engineering Degree, University: Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Czechia;

-PhD, Analytical Chemistry, University: Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Czechia; 

Stephan Schumacher holds an engineering degree from the Nancy School of Geology. After five years spent developing scientific software, he joined Andra in 1996 to work on performance and safety assessment, then on the long-term behavior of radioactive waste (vitrified waste, graphite, etc.), before heading the department in charge of studying radioactive waste and repository materials (clay materials, cementitious materials, metallic materials, ceramics). He became Deputy Director of R&D in 2018, where he was involved in the preparation and launch of the EURAD EJP, before becoming Director in 2022. With over a hundred employees, the division draws on exceptional research resources, such as the Meuse/Haute-Marne underground research laboratory.

Alena Mastantuono is Employers´ Group Member and Vice-President of the TEN (Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society) Section of the European Economic and Social Committee. She is an expert on energy issues and the EESC rapporteur on the opinion Radioactive waste management: a civil society perspective.

Alexis Geisler-Roblin is a geologist and philosopher of science, he holds master degrees in geosciences, mining engineering, MBA and philosophy. He is currently a PhD candidate in philosophy of science (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris).

For the past 5 years he has been working in the NGO Nuclear Transparency Watch, a European Civil Society Organisation that aims at improving the implementation of the Aarhus convention in nuclear fields. In NTW he leads the working group on radioactive waste management, that notably coordinates the Interactions with Civil Society in EURAD1 and EURAD2. He is also a member of OECD-NEA Expert Group on Awareness Preservation, of SITEX Network management board and of ECOSENS external review board.

Guillaume Blavette is a history and geography teacher residing in Rouen, France. He is an environmental activist who holds various positions within France Nature Environnement (FNE), the federation of nature and environmental protection associations in France. In the past, he also held positions within the Réseau Sortir du nucléaire. He has been involved in citizen oversight of nuclear installations for more than fifteen years, particularly within the local information commission of Paluel-Penly, an active participant in numerous public debates, and later a member of the PNGMDR (National Plan for the Management of Radioactive Materials and Waste) and of the High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety as a FNE representative.

Fabian Sjöberg serves as the Mayor of Östhammar, the host municipality for the Forsmark nuclear power plant and the planned final repository. He is also the Vice President of GMF (Group of European Municipalities with Nuclear Facilities), where he advocates for responsible nuclear management and local community engagement.

Johanna Hansen is specialist in Disposal Systems

M.Sc in Geology and Mineralogy from Åbo Akademi University, Finland.

Waste management experience 27 years at Posiva related to the SNF and LILW.

She has wide experience in different R&D topics and international co-operation. Currently she is the Secretary General for IGD-TP (Implementing Geological Disposal – Technology Platform), which serves as forum for WMO’s to initiating and carrying out European strategic initiatives to facilitate the stepwise implementation of safe, deep geological disposal of spent fuel, high-level waste and other long-lived radioactive waste. 

Vesa Lakaniemi is the major of Eurajoki Municipality in Finland. The nuclear energy sector, including final disposal, is highly important to the Finland and Municipality of Eurajoki. Olkiluoto nuclear power plant area is key contributor to the nation's electricity supply. Over 30% of Finnish electricity comes from Olkiluoto. Eurajoki Municipality has over 45 years close co-operation experience with nuclear company TVO and final disposal company Posiva. Onkalo final disposal will be the first place in the world in operation.

 Education

[1994]   University of Turku, Master of Education

[2013]   University of Jyväskylä, School of Economics, eMBA

Professional Profile

[1995 – 2001]   Comprehensive School Lecture, Espoo, Pirkkala

[2002 – 2006]   Headmaster, Comprehensive School, upper level, Rauma Town

[2006 – 2008]   Education Manager, Rauma Town

[2009 – 2017]   Director of Education and Learning, Rauma Town

[2017 –   ]   Mayor, Eurajoki Municipality 

Christophe Depaus holds a master degree in mining engineering, a PhD in philosophy of sciences and an Academic degree in International Nuclear Law. Since 2009, he works in ONDRAF-NIRAS as a safety assessor for the long-term management of high-level waste and spent fuel and is responsible of the interactions with the Belgian regulatory body (FANC) for the geological disposal. As such, he tries actively to integrate the scientific, technical, ethical and legal aspects in the geological disposal project. He has also a long-standing involvement with the IAEA as taskgroup leader (GEOSAF) and teamleader (ARTEMIS).

Prof. Catherine FALLON: Civil engineer and Doctor of Political Science, Honorary Professor at the University of Liège in public policy evaluation and public administration. She has launched the SPIRAL research center. Her work focuses on collaborative public innovation, crisis management and cross-disciplinary approaches to public action and citizens participation. She recently chaired the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Citizen Conference on RAW disposal in Belgium (2023-24). 

Peter Mihók is a full-time researcher in Social Sciences and Humanities at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic (since 2009). He holds a PhD in Public Economics and Services (2009).

Prior to being employed as a University researcher, he worked professionally in the non-governmental sector. From March 2003 to June 2006, he served as the Slovak national coordinator for CEE Bankwatch Network, based at the Slovak NGO 'Friends of the Earth-CEPA'.

During his PhD studies from 2006 to 2009, he led a campaign advocating for full transparency and a reformed levy system for the Slovak NPP operator's contributions to the National Nuclear Fund, aiming for these levies to reflect nuclear back-end cost assessments rather than political negotiations.

Miroslav KÖVÉR was born in 1960 in Slovakia. Graduated in Chemistry (former German Democratic Republic). Since 1987 engaged in nuclear energy and since 1992 in radioactive waste management. Different positions at the licence holder and operator (Slovenske Elektrárne, JAVYS), engineering company (NUKEM Technologies/Germany and  VUJE). Since 2017 he has been working at the National Nuclear Fund of Slovakia in the position as a Deputy Director for Technical Matters.

Dr. Corina Murafa is an independent public policy expert, activist and university lecturer in climate, energy and sustainability. She has been collaborating with large non-profit, public and private organisations, such as the World Bank, European Commission, Frankfurt School of Management, Ashoka, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Prime Minister’s Office, OMV Petrom, Deloitte, and various other national governments, NGOs and think tanks. Since 2023 she gives a voice to civil society organisations working on climate and energy in Brussels, as a member of the European Economic after having served a similar position at national level in the past four years. Her work focuses mostly on the just energy transition, energy poverty and ESG transformations in corporations. She is a member of the Romanian Energy Poverty Observatory and a lecturer, PhD, at the Faculty of Business Administration at Bucharest University of Economic Studies, having a solid academic background through studies and long-term fellowships in energy and climate economics and policy at UC Berkeley, Hertie School of Governance, New York University, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. 

Valéry DETILLEUX holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry and a Master degree in Management. He is currently Section Head at Bel V (the Belgian Technical Safety Organization). He leads a team of safety analysts in charge of activities including Radioactive Waste Management, Radiation Protection and Decommissioning. Valéry DETILLEUX is active in several international networks and programmes. He is the Chairman of the SITEX Network gathering Technical Safety Organizations, Nuclear Safety Authorities and Civil Society Organisations in joint activities about radioactive waste management. He is also an active member of the Bureau of the EURAD General Assembly.