Dear participants and guests of the ATOMEXPO Forum!

As WANO Chairman, I would first like to reaffirm the commitment of all our members to the improvement of global nuclear safety. The nuclear industry is today facing huge changes that operators, together with the other national and international organisations and players, have to cope with. I would like to underline two of them, which are for me the most significant.

The nuclear landscape is evolving very quickly, and we are assisting to a progressive eastbound shift of the world fleet. Nuclear power capacity worldwide is increasing steadily, especially in Asia and in the Middle East. The nuclear community, and thus WANO, will have to welcome new entrants and to support rapidly expanding fleets so that the highest possible level of nuclear safety can be ensured.

For WANO particularly, it is an important challenge since the world nuclear landscape will soon look very different to the one of 1989, when the association was created.

Often, as a consequence to this rapid development and in particular contexts for other reasons, our industry members face almost everywhere an important challenge to secure, develop and vary their competencies. One of our common objectives is undoubtedly to increase our appeal to young talents. As an industry we have a lot to offer to the young generation in terms of personal, technical and international development opportunities, and we can all benefit from being more open to new ideas and visions. But we have to better source our competencies and to ensure the overall attractiveness of our industry.

The International Forum “ATOMEXPO”, dedicated to international cooperation development in peaceful use of atomic energy, participates to the support our industry needs to face these challenges. This forum is a key opportunity for nuclear industry members to meet, to exchange and to think about our development perspectives and the way international cooperation can ensure the brightest possible future for our industry.

Jacques Régaldo, WANO Chairman