Our Core Team are experienced senior experts who also became friends, and are driving towards making a difference in the nuclear sector together with our customers. The team scales-up according to our project needs with selected experts, both locally and globally.
Our long-standing collaborative work with top-notch experts in various organisations worldwide secures and maintains our up-to-date business intelligence, decisioneering methodologies and partnership performance.
Team
Luc Van Den Durpel graduated in 1989 as civil engineer and nuclear engineer from the University of Ghent (Belgium) where he also obtained his PhD on nuclear energy systems analysis. He initially conducted research at the Nuclear Research Center in Belgium. He joined the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris (France) in 1998 to conduct international studies on advanced nuclear energy systems and specifically advanced nuclear fuel cycle R&D. Early 2002, he joined US-DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, US) in the context of Generation-IV and specifically nuclear energy system scenarios next to running his consultancy business.
Since March 2009, he became Scientific Director and International Expert at AREVA NC’s Corporate Research and Innovation Directorate and since October 2011, he became Vice-President Strategic Analysis and Technology Prospective at AREVA’s Corporate R&D. After leaving AREVA in March 2015, he launched the internationally operating consulting firm Nuclear-21 supporting governments, utilities, industry, waste agencies and R&D-laboratories in nuclear technology-to-business decisioneering.
Karel Bueno de Mesquita graduated as a radiochemist and obtained his PhD in 1977 on a nuclear physics subject. As a safety and licensing manager at Nucon Engineering and Contracting, he has been involved in various nuclear projects, such as the design and construction of the Leibstadt nuclear power plant in Switzerland. He contributed to the development of a smaller type of boiling water reactor in collaboration with General Electric, and led a number of studies that provided better insight into the feasibility and suitability of other types of nuclear power plants in the Netherlands. He was at the cradle of the development of Environmental Impact Assessments and of the implementation of the Seveso Directive to Technological Disaster Risk Reduction. In addition, he has issued, as a management consultant, a number of organisational advices in various other areas to support the strategy of organizations and to improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
Frederique Damerval is an internationally recognised expert in decontamination processes, with 22 years of experience at the heart of AREVA’s Decommissioning and Dismantling Business Unit, working in decontamination, treatment of effluents and wastes. She has a wide range of experience in research and development, in laboratories, industrialisation, management and open innovation. This has given her an integrated vision of the innovation process, and significant skill in identifying areas in need of development.
Since 2016, Frederique has provided support in the development of teaching and training materials towards the “Methods of Decommissioning” unit for Master of Nuclear Energy students at l’Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.
Last year, she initiated Tech Y Tech, whose aim is to identify innovative small and medium enterprises and help them develop their technology / products towards the maintenance and decommissioning sector of the nuclear industry.
Gian Luigi Fiorini graduated in Nuclear Energy at the University of Pisa, Italy in 1975; through his activity at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) he accrued more than forty years of experience in the formulation, implementation and coordination of theoretical and experimental activities for the design, the operation and safety assessment of nuclear reactors with some specific experiences on naval propulsion reactors and fusion plants (ITER). Several of these activities have been directly related to support nuclear licensing concerns within the framework of French nuclear regulation. He has been strongly involved in the development of Gen-IV reactor collaborations. As a specialist in safety approaches for the design and assessment of innovative nuclear systems he gained significant international experience as correspondent and program coordinator for CEA bilateral and multilateral agreements. Retired from the CEA since 2011, he is currently “Chargé de Mission” (ambassador/mission leader) within the Cabinet of the French High Commissioner for Atomic Energy in “Nuclear Safety”.
Caroline Jorant currently works as a consultant in international relations in the energy sector, with a special emphasis on nuclear energy and nuclear security. Until June 2010, she was Director for Non-proliferation and International Institutions at AREVA. She spent 13 years in the French nuclear industry, overseeing international institutional affairs and intergovernmental agreements. From 1992 to 1997, she worked at the French Permanent representation to the EU and was the French representative to the Atomic Questions Group in the EU Council. From 1981 to 1992, she worked with the Commissariat Energie Atomique International Department. Caroline received a Master Degree in International Relations from SAIS Johns Hopkins.
Jim Kuijper received a PhD in nuclear reactor physics from Delft University of Technology (Delft, NLD) in 1992. Since then he has worked with the Energy Research Foundation ECN and the Nuclear Research & Consultancy Group NRG in Petten, the Netherlands, until 2014. In 2015, he initiated NUCLIC (Nuclear Innovation Consultancy).
His main field of expertise includes nuclear reactor physics, space-time reactor kinetics, reactor dynamics, reactor safety, criticality safety, uncertainty assessment and computer code development for various nuclear reactor systems, in which he has been active both as researcher and project manager, often in projects of the EC/Euratom Framework Programs. Jim has been a member of the Reactor Safety Committee of the Petten research site (NLD) for over 20 years, advising the managements of NRG, ECN as well as Euratom/JRC-IET, on reactor physics and criticality safety aspects of the nuclear installations at the site. Current (2017-2018) activities include criticality safety advice for COVRA (Netherlands organisation for radioactive waste disposal) and HTGR core neutronics (design-) analyses in the Euratom Horizon 2020 project GEMINI+.
Serge Runge holds a Ph.D. in Atomic Physics from the University of Paris and an Engineering degree from Ecole Centrale de Paris. After obtaining his PhD he held positions at the French Atomic Energy Commission (technology transfer to Japan); in an international consulting firm (strategic planning); with COGEMA Japan as General Manager for Back End business; with COGEMA Inc. in the United States as Vice-President for Industrial Programs, particularly involved in the US MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility project, the related shipments between the US and France of Weapon-Grade Plutonium, and a similar project in Russia. After returning to France he oversaw AREVA’s relations with Eastern Europe, particularly with ROSATOM, as Vice-President, CIS and Eastern Europe. Then he was appointed Vice-President, External Training Offers and Projects with AREVA’s Training Department.
Serge Runge is a member of the Société Française pour l’Energie Nucléaire and a member of the Executive Board of SFANS – the French section of the American Nuclear Society. He is fluent in French, Russian and English.
Jan is our Strategic Advisor and Partner in Nuclear-21 NL BV and is recognised by many Executive and Supervisory Boards as a highly respected, trusted advisor and sparring partner, with relevant experience for over 35 years. He has been advising boards in a large spectrum of industries, including manufacturing, business services, transport and logistics, consumer goods and financial services. Facing volatile and challenging situations, Jan developed a deep understanding of the complexity of international businesses and of management processes.
Throughout his career he developed a solid insight in all aspects of international corporate finance and has a proven track record in solving large and complex challenges for publicly listed and family owned businesses. His advice would always be focused on improving a company’s strategic position, either through restructuring, organic growth or through acquisitions. He was intimately involved in some of the most notable transactions in The Netherlands and abroad.
Jan has a thorough understanding of international and Dutch corporate governance and regulatory environments. His stakeholder orientation is based on his sense for community and employee development. He is a firm believer in the importance of adhering explicitly to the key values of integrity and respect within organisations.
Before joining Nuclear-21 in May 2023, Aliki was Unit Head 3E Analysis (3E = Energy, Economics, Environment), within the Planning and Economics Studies Section at the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency for seven years. She lead and contributed to several publications and conferences on nuclear energy’s compatibility with national sustainable development objectives and how it can contribute to climate change mitigation and energy security of supply through energy products with viable business cases.
Before this, she was Team Manager and Consultant in Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management at NRG in The Netherlands, leading and co-executing projects in this area for nuclear power plants and research facilities.
The bulk of her earlier career however lies in the area of advanced reactors. After obtaining a PhD on pebble bed high temperature reactor design, safety and economics, she initiated the research area on this reactor type at ECN in The Netherlands, after which she expanded to managing the Dutch research programme on 4th Generation nuclear energy systems. In this framework she initiated and conducted research on strategic fuel cycle analysis.
As associate at Nuclear-21, Aliki is in charge of Nuclear-21’s international activities regarding the role for nuclear in sustainable energy systems including the options for newcomer countries plans towards nuclear.
