A united front
across nations

José Gago

Chairperson

José Gago is a seasoned executive who has dedicated his career almost entirely to the nuclear industry. He has extensive technical and managerial experience in the whole nuclear fuel cycle, from fuel procurement and design, nuclear power plant design, licensing and operations, spent fuel interim storage, reprocessing and disposal, radioactive waste management and plant decommissioning.

He has worked for Enresa, the Spanish radioactive waste management national company, where he occupied several positions related with spent fuel and high-level wastes interim storage and final disposal, reprocessing and decommissioning activities. Later on, he joined the Spanish utility Endesa as its Engineering and Nuclear Fuel Cycle Deputy Director, being in charge of uranium procurement, front-end and back-end strategies and contracts and the supervision of main engineering projects for Endesa’s nuclear fleet. He was assigned in 2009 to Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellós II (ANAV) and was appointed its General Manager and CEO in 2012, a position he held until his retirement in 2022.

José has been ANAV’s Governor at the WANO Paris Centre Governing Board since 2012 and was elected its Chairman in 2020. He has been President of the Spanish Nuclear Society, member of the Foro Nuclear Board of Directors and has kept close contact with the nuclear industry serving at several Advisory Boards and participating in IAEA expert missions.

José holds an MSc in Energy and Nuclear Technologies Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, and spent there his initial post graduate years as an Associate Professor and Researcher.

Dr Naoki Chigusa

WANO Chief Executive Officer

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of WANO’s Mission and represents WANO in industry events.

Dr Naoki Chigusa took up his position as WANO Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2023. Prior to this, he joined the WANO Tokyo Centre in July 2014 as Director General.

He has more than 40 years of experience in Nuclear Operations, Maintenance and Engineering, having started his career in 1982 at the Kansai Electric Power Company. He has served at the Ohi and Mihama Nuclear Power Plants, and in the Kansai corporate office and he has served as Director Nuclear Technology and Executive Officer.

Chigusa has served as an Expert Member on the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. He is a Professor of the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University.

Chigusa has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from University of Tokyo. He earned a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Kyoto University.

Mr. Tomoaki Kobayakawa

WANO President

The President is an honorary position and is responsible for hosting and promoting the next Biennial General Meeting as well as supporting WANO in international activities.

Mr. Kobayakawa is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc (TEPCO).

He was appointed as the President of TEPCO in June of 2017 at the age of 53 as the youngest to take up the position to follow through on dealing with company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011.

He began his career at TEPCO in 1988, where he worked for many years in its corporate sales division and cultivated customer-first mindset. As an engineer, he played a part in the development of a novel heat pump water heat system that consumed less than one-third of the electricity of conventional water heaters which was nationally awarded as a new invention in 2010.

Under his leadership, the company’s nuclear division has focused mainly on supporting the recovery of entire Fukushima region, decommissioning of both Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Power Plants, and getting ready for the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plants with extensive safety enhancement measures based on the lessons-learned from the accident.

Kobayakawa continues to lead TEPCO and industry through a transformative phase in the energy sector, striving to uphold safety and sustainability in the company’s operations.

Kobayakawa pursued his education at Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he studied Engineering.

Mohamed Al Hammadi

Chairperson

Mohamed Al Hammadi is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC).

Robert F. Willard

Governor

President and CEO, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations

Eduard Martirosyan

Chairperson

Eduard Martirosyan was appointed by order of the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia, as General Director of the HAEK CJSC in 2020. He graduated from the Faculty of Transport of the State Engineering University of Armenia in 1996.

Zhang Yi

Governor

Chairman of the Board, JNPC

Alexander Shutikov

Governor

Director General, Rosenergoatom, Joint-Stock Company

Johan Svenningsson

Chairperson

Johan Svenningsson serves as CEO and Country Chairman of Uniper Sweden since 2015. He holds the positions of CEO, COO, Chairman, Deputy Chairman and member of Boards of Directors across major Swedish energy and nuclear power groups and plants, including Sydkraft AB (Nuclear, Hydro-power and Thermal-power sections), the Swedish Nuclear Waste Management Company, and the Oskarshamn, Barsebäck, Ringhals and Forsmark nuclear power plants. He also is the Governor in the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) as well as a board member in the World Nuclear Association (WNA).

Johan was previously CEO of OKG AB, deputy CEO at the Swedish Technical Research Institute AB, and he held different management positions within Westinghouse and ABB Nuclear and Pharmadule Emtunga. He also is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Swedish Energy Industry Employer Association. Johan holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering (Chalmers Institute of Technology, Sweden).

Cedric Lewandowski

Governor

Group Senior Executive Vice President, Nuclear and Thermal, of EDF

Bohdan Zronek

Chief Nuclear Officer

Chief Nuclear Officer and Member of the Board of Directors, CEZ, a.s.

Yutaka Kanai

Chairperson

Kanai has 43 years’ experience working in the power generation industry, with 38 years in the nuclear sector.

He has experienced nuclear power operations from new site construction, operations, maintenance, outage management, plant management as a Chief Nuclear Officer and corporate management as a CEO.

Kanai has been involved in WANO Tokyo Centre activity for nine years as a governor and participated in many WANO conferences. He also serves as a Vice Chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC).

Zhengyu Zou

Governor

General Manager of China National Nuclear Power Co., LTD (CNNP).

Dr Naoki Chigusa

WANO Chief Executive Officer

The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of WANO’s Mission and represents WANO in industry events.

Dr Naoki Chigusa took up his position as WANO Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2023. Prior to this, he joined the WANO Tokyo Centre in July 2014 as Director General.

He has more than 40 years of experience in Nuclear Operations, Maintenance and Engineering, having started his career in 1982 at the Kansai Electric Power Company. He has served at the Ohi and Mihama Nuclear Power Plants, and in the Kansai corporate office and he has served as Director Nuclear Technology and Executive Officer.

Chigusa has served as an Expert Member on the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. He is a Professor of the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University.

Chigusa has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from University of Tokyo. He earned a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Kyoto University.

Steve Meng

Atlanta Centre Director

Steve Meng serves a dual role as the Director of the Atlanta Centre for WANO and as Vice President, International Strategy, for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO). He assumed both positions in August 2023.

Steve joined INPO in 2007 and brings 35 years of experience to his role. Most recently, he was a loaned employee to Duke Energy where he served as Vice President, Corporate Operations. His previous positions include Director, Plant Operations; Manager, Plant Operations; Team Leader; Director, Process Optimization; Manager, Emergency Preparedness; and WANO’s Operating Experience Technical Programme Manager. Steve also served as the lead investigator and primary author for the INPO Special Report on the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

In addition to INPO, Steve has worked as a Chief Engineer in the fossil industry, held positions in operations and training with General Electric – Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories, and engineering and operations with Exelon.

Steve started his career in 1987 in the United States Navy. He received a bachelor’s degree in marine engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s degree in business administration from Regis University. Steve earned a senior reactor operator license at Clinton Power Station.

Vasily Aksenov

Moscow Centre Director

Vasily Aksenov was named as the Director of the Moscow Centre in February 2015. After graduating from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1981, Vasily joined the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) branch of Concern Rosenergoatom in 1996, where he was a Chief Engineer until 2005. He then went on to become the Deputy Director General of Concern Rosenergoatom at Kalinin NPP until 2007.

In 2007, he graduated from the Saint-Petersburg State Polytechnic University, majoring in Organisation Management. In the same year, he became the Deputy of Technical Director on new power units of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise for Concern Rosenergoatom NPPs.

In 2008 until early 2015, he was the First Deputy of the General Director – Chief Engineer of JSC Atomenergoremont of Rosatom State Corporation. He has also been a Candidate of Technical Sciences since 1999.

Satu Kristiina Katajala

Paris Centre Director

In January 2024, Satu Kristiina Katajala became WANO Paris Centre’s Director.

Satu Katajala has more than 30 years of experience in nuclear operations and radiation protection.

Starting in 1990 at Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and starting in 1991 at TVO as Radiation Safety technician, from 1995 her positions at Fortum’s Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant included Radiation Safety Officer, Nuclear Safety Engineer, RP Engineer, RP Manager, Head of Safety and Site Vice-President of Loviisa NPP.

In 2012, she started the role of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 3S educator for newcomers; and in 2022 she became the Executive Sponsor for the Foreign Material Exclusion (FME) Industry Working Group (I-WG).

From 2016 to 2022, she served as Board Member of Posiva.

Before joining WANO Paris Centre, Satu was the Vice-President for Corporate Nuclear Oversight and International Cooperation, at Fortum’s Loviisa NPP.

Kim Keeyoung

Tokyo Centre Director

Kim Keeyoung took up his position as Director General of Tokyo Centre on 1 January 2023.

From November 2021, Kim was Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power’s (KHNP) Head Office Safety Department Vice President. In this role, he oversaw the safety performance of 24 KHNP plant units. Before this, Kim was the Director General of KHNP’s Human Resource Development (HRD) Institute, in this role he was responsible for the HRD across the company.

Kim has gained more than 30 years of experience in nuclear operation, training and safety oversight including serving as a shift manager and a senior manager at KHNP head office. From 2018 to 2020, he was seconded as Tokyo Centre’s Deputy Director General.

Kim has a master’s degree in Material Science and Engineering from Pusan National University. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Kyunghee University. Kim also has a Korea Associate Coach Certificate (KCA).

Chen Hua

Shanghai Office Director

Chen Hua took up his position as WANO Shanghai Office (SHO) Director in November 2022. Before joining the SHO, he served as a Governor in Tokyo Centre’s Governing Board and the WANO Governing Board. He was awarded with a WANO Nuclear Excellence Award in 2011 for his outstanding contributions to the excellence of the safe operation of nuclear power plants and facilities.

Mr. Chen has been working in the nuclear industry for more than 40 years, since his first assignment at the Beijing Nuclear Research Institute in 1982. He has served as the Chair of China National Nuclear Power (CNNP) and the Assistant General Manager at the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) etc.

Mr. Chen has an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from The University of Texas at Arlington. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in nuclear science and engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University.