ENS welcomes the new President

David Bonser

Following the recent meeting of the ENS Board and the General Assembly ENS has a new President and some new Board members. David Bonser has taken over as President from Frank Deconinck, who remains on the board as Vice President. Five new Directors were also elected to the Board. They are Martin Luthander, Bernard Jolly, Aurelio Sala, Fernando Naredo and Professor Vladimir Slugen. Before focusing on our new President ENS NEWS would first like to give a sincere vote of thanks to Frank for all the tireless work he put in on behalf of ENS NEWS while he was ENS President. It’s good to know that he will continue to serve the Society and contribute to ENS NEWS in the future.

David Bonser has long been an ENS member and a member of the ENS Board, having served as Vice President since 2006. Many of you know David well, but for those of you who perhaps don’t know him quite so well here is a broad brushstroke portrait of the new man at the Society’s helm.

ENS Board, from left to right: Vladimir Slugen, Naredo Fernando, Dr. Joachim Knebel, David R. Bonser, Milena Cernilogar-Radež, Aurelio Sala Candela, Frank Deconinck, Dr. Krassimira Ilieva

David is British. He is a qualified engineer who graduated from Cambridge in 1971 prior to joining British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) at Risley. In a long and distinguished career he has worked as Director of the Thorp Division, at Sellafield (UK), during which time he was responsible for getting it up and running. He later became Director of Engineering, Waste Management and Decommissioning with responsibility for the Sellafield waste plants, decommissioning operations and BNFL Engineering Ltd.

Between 1997 and 2001 he was Chairman of NIREX and in 1998 was appointed a member of the UK government’s advisory body on radioactive waste management, the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC).

ENS Board Meeting at 30 November 2007, back from left to right: Igor Vukovic, Dr. Joachim Knebel, David R. Bonser, Silye Judit , Aurelio Sala Candela, Bertrand Vieillard-Baron, Prof. Philip Beeley, Miroslaw Kawalec, Bernard Bonin, Dr. Peter Leistner,
front from left to right Santiago San Antonio, Prof. Frank Deconinck, Milena Cernilogar-Radež, Dr. Krassimira Ilieva

He was appointed to the Board of BNFL in 1999.

In 2001, David was put in charge of Corporate Responsibility at BNFL and in 2003 he was given executive responsibility for the company’s Spent Fuel Services. Since 2004 he has been in charge of BNFL’s Human Resources division.

Well, with such a long and impressive track record in the nuclear industry, we are sure you’ll agree that David is – to say the least - eminently well-qualified to represent ENS and to defend its members’ interests at what is a very interesting time in the history of the Society.

Once again, ENS is extremely fortunate to have such an experienced and dedicated professional as its new President. Congratulations David. Everyone at ENS NEWS wishes you the very best of luck!

Mark O’Donovan
ENS News Editor-in-Chief