Word from the President

Dear members of the European Nuclear Society (ENS),

We finished off last year with the successful ENC2012 conference, in Manchester, UK. In parallel with ENC 2012, which is the biggest conference on the ENS events calendar, we launched an initiative called ENC Careers, an event similar to a job fair. It enabled our corporate members to make contact with potential employees that might subsequently fill job vacancies within their organisations. The feedback on the event that was obtained from both companies and job candidates was so positive that the Board of ENS decided after ENC2012 that the ENC Careers initiative will be repeated in 2013. At this point I would like to urge our corporate members to make the most of the opportunity that ENC Careers offers them and to take part actively in the 2013 edition.

During ENC2012 ENS encountered a new challenge: How can we make the conference more attractive for nuclear power plant operators, who are our biggest customers? Unfortunately, the profile of nuclear power plants is sometimes very poor. So, the ENS Board decided to establish a task force to increase accordingly the attractiveness of the conference next time. At the end of last year, ENS initiated a new cooperative venture, with the European Research Materials Society (E-MRS), for the joint organisation of an event devoted to nuclear materials. The E-MRS is once again organising its own well-known symposium dedicated to this topic, during its Spring Meeting, in Strasbourg (from 27-31 May).

ENS for its part is looking forward to the series of conferences that it is organising in 2013, which include PIME, in Zurich (17-20 February); ETRAP, in Vienna (13-15 March) and RRFM in St. Petersburg (21-25 April). In fact, by the time you read this Word from the President, PIME 2013, which is an ENS conference exclusively for nuclear communications professionals, will already have taken place!  This year PIME celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. For any conference to achieve a silver jubilee is a remarkable thing in itself. But this impressive anniversary also eloquently expresses the enduring commitment of the European nuclear industry and research community to articulating - to as wide an audience as possible - the core messages about the benefits of nuclear energy. Twenty-five years and still going….PIME shows that nuclear communications remain as relevant as ever.

The ENS Young Generation Network is planning its biannual conference, the European Nuclear Young Generation Forum, which will take place this year in June, in Stockholm.  Please support your young employees by inviting them to attend this outstanding conference. Registration is available at: www.ENYGF2013.com

The first great challenge of the year for ENS staff will be the move to the Society’s new offices in Brussels. As of the beginning of April 2013 our new address will be:  56 Avenue des Arts, 1000 Brussels.

Finally, as ENS president I was offered at the end of last year a seat on the Governing Board of the the Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP) for a period of two years. This gives me an opportunity to further represent the interests of the Society via the medium of this important scientific stakeholder Platform; one additional way of promoting the work of our Society on a European level.

I would like to wish all of you a successful, enjoyable and fulfilling 2013!

Marco Streit
President of ENS