Hans Wanner resigns as WENRA Chair. His successor is Olivier Gupta, Director General of the French nuclear safety authority ASN. The official handover took place during the 20th anniversary celebration of WENRA, which took place in connection with an IAEA conference in The Hague (NL).

The event was attended by representatives of European and international regulatory authorities, as well as the IAEA and industry.

"It was a very good event" agreed Mr Wanner and Gupta. “We were able to provide a good overview of the achievements to date, as well as the future challenges of WENRA". 

"From my point of view the biggest advantage with WENRA is its club character" says Hans Wanner, who has chaired WENRA since 2011. "The members are not there in their national capacities because they are obliged to be. Rather, we are all united by the drive to strengthen nuclear safety in Europe and worldwide and to exchange views on the upcoming challenges and important issues in this regard. One of our main goals is to continue to maintain and strengthen personal contacts between the heads of national regulatory authorities and to promote mutual exchange on current and future issues and challenges. I wish Olivier all the best for this important task.”

Mr Gupta thanked Hans Wanner for his leadership during the past years. “WENRA can look to the future with confidence” Mr Gupta said. "WENRA is quite a unique forum on the international scene: the technical and informal nature of the discussions, combined with each member's commitment to harmonise safety requirements, has resulted in significant progress over the last few years. The value of WENRA's work is reflected by the fact that several nuclear regulators from non-European countries such as Canada, Russia and Japan follow it closely. I want WENRA to remain at the cutting edge with regard to the new safety challenges in the years to come."