OUR
TEAM

A graduate of the École Technique Préparatoire pour l’Armement (technical preparatory school for weapons engineering) and engineer with a degree from Centrale-Supélec (class of ‘92) and INSEAD business school, Jean-Luc began his career at Spie Batignolles working on the engineering and construction of complex rail systems. He became Vice President, Infrastructure at Alstom Transport in 2007. In 2013, he was named managing director of Degrémont. He was also Chief Technical Officer of the Suez group for infrastructure until 2019. His fifteen years spent abroad have provided him with a keen understanding of international challenges. This international field experience made him deeply aware of social inequalities, the daily hardships experienced in developing countries and the devastating effects of climate disruption on their populations.

Ivan Gavriloff is a graduate of the École Polytechnique (class of ‘81). Entrepreneur and founder of KAOS Consulting, he is an expert in creativity and innovation. His expertise brings out innovative solutions from seemingly disparate groups, thanks to collective intelligence methods that have delivered proven results for 1,000 clients, including all of the CAC 40 companies. Since 2012, he has taught “Thinking Differently” at the Centre for Advanced Military Studies (CHEM), École de Guerre, Institute for Advanced Scientific and Technical Military Studies (EMSST), and the Management Training Centre of the Ministry of Defence (CFMD), leading creativity groups ranging in size from ten to several hundred people.

Christophe Béhar is an engineer trained at the École Centrale de Paris. Following a career at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), he was appointed Director of its Nuclear Energy Division in 2009. He is a member of several supervisory boards and boards of directors in France and abroad, and also holds responsibilities in representative bodies for the nuclear sector (SFEN, GIFEN, GIIN).

With master’s degrees in human resources and occupational psychology, Céline Duvivier has over twenty years of experience in various areas of human resources. She developed her expertise working with major industrial and financial groups.

A specialist in management in industry and related services, David Briggs has pursued an international career with high-level responsibilities in groups such as Wilo, Alstom, ABB and most recently GE Healthcare. He has notably played a major role in governance transformation as well as in innovation.

An engineer and graduate of the Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, Christophe Trégret has nearly 25 years of experience in the energy sector. He developed his expertise at Alstom Power and General Electric, where he held numerous responsibilities in France and abroad. Christophe Trégret will bring his engineering and project management experience to lead Research and Development and the design and engineering of NAAREA’s nuclear microreactors.

Bruno Maurice-Cacciaguerra achieved the rank of Général de Corps Aérien (Lieutenant General) in the French Air Force and is a “second section” reservist. He was formerly government advisor for the development of the Defence Innovation Agency (AID) and general officer responsible for the digital transformation of the armed forces (OGTDA) reporting to the Chief of Defence. He is a graduate of the École de l’Air military academy and Supélec, and also attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

David Colon is a graduate of the École Polytechnique (class of ‘93) and National School of Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry, and also attended France’s Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN). He is the founder and volunteer president of the NGO Up2green Reforestation. A qualified member of the National Water Council, David is also on the board of directors of biotech EarthAlive and a strategic advisor at deep tech company ACWA Robotics. With a strong network within ministries, professional associations, and governance and steering bodies in the French industrial sector, he is familiar with the mechanisms to support innovation, the various public funding schemes and the strategic orientations of research organizations and competitiveness clusters.

Guilhem Plan holds a master’s degree in finance and accounting, oversight and audit. With experience with major industrial groups in the field of auditing, he has had the opportunity to develop specific skills in the accounting treatment of R&D expenditure and the monitoring of cost capitalization.

A mechanical engineer by training, Raffaele Muscetta has held management positions in purchasing and supply chain in the fast-moving consumer goods and industrial sectors in nearly ten different countries. Passionate about education, he has been teaching for 20 years in various schools in France, including ESSEC, Skema business school and Devinci Executive Education, the training centre of De Vinci Higher Education, where he is the director of the Supply Chain MBA programme.

After holding management positions in projects and production in the automotive and laser industries for over 20 years, François Lépinette has joined NAAREA to lead industrialization. Passionate about technology and innovation in both products and manufacturing processes, the former manager of major production sites for Valeo and Lumentum in Thailand brings his expertise in supply chain management, lean manufacturing and automation to implement the serial production of NAAREA’s nuclear microreactors.

A specialist in financial management, Jean-Michel Boczkow began his career in audit, before assuming financial management positions within the Thales, Valeo, Sagem, Safran and Alstom Transport groups. In the latter, he held the position of corporate international VP Finance and then of the Global Solutions business unit.

Holding a master’s degree in business law (Paris XII University) and a degree in intellectual property law (Paris Panthéon-Assas University), complemented by studies in international trade law (University of the French West Indies and Guiana) and a certificate in public relations (Université de Montréal), Florence Maran-Bréton has held key positions in companies such as Groupe Bernard Hayot, Europcar Mobility Group, and KPMG France. Through her various roles, she contributed to the development of their legal advisory, intellectual property and digital transformation businesses. With a desire to take part in a project with a strong social and environmental impact, she is now joining NAAREA and will lend her rich experience and many skills to help meet a major industrial challenge: the fight to achieve decarbonization through sustainable nuclear energy.

Mayor of the town of Bapaume in northern France, MP, senator of the Pas-de-Calais department, President of the French Association of Mayors, French Ombudsman, President of the French Economic, Social and Environmental Council, Minister under Jacques Chirac, and High Commissioner in charge of pension reform under Emmanuel Macron.

François Rachline was an economics professor at Sciences Po Paris until 2013, and vice-chairman of the university’s board of directors from 2001 to 2010. Managing director of the Institut Montaigne from 2008 to 2010 and special advisor to the president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) from 2011 to 2015, he has been vice-president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) since 2020. He is the author of nearly twenty essays, novels and non-fiction accounts. Website: francoisrachline.fr

Patrick Mathieu, CEO of patrickmathieu singularité, is an expert in the singularity of organizations. For 25 years, he has been developing his research on the theory of singularity and putting them into practice through his work with business leaders, from CAC 40 companies to startups and non-profits.

Michel Derdevet is the president of the think tank Confrontations Europe and the Maison de l’Europe de Paris. A graduate of HEC business school and holding an advanced degree in public law, he was formerly Secretary General and board member at Enedis (2013-2019), before holding the positions of Principal Private Secretary to Martin Malvy, Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesperson, then Minister for the Budget (1992-1993); Deputy Delegate General for EU Affairs at EDF (1993-1996); Principal Private Secretary to Christian Pierret, Minister for Industry (1997-1999); and member of the Executive Committee and Director of Communications and Public Affairs at RTE (2000-2012). He is an expert in energy and has written numerous works on the subject.

A mathematician and alumnus of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Henri Berestycki was a researcher at the French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) before becoming a professor at Pierre and Marie Curie University (now part of Sorbonne University). He has also taught at the École Polytechnique, École Normale Supérieure and the University of Chicago. A research professor (Directeur d’études) at EHESS (Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences), where he established the Mathematical Analysis and Modelling chair, he was named Professor Emeritus in 2020. Henri Berestycki was Dean of Research at PSL Research University from 2015 to 2017. Specializing in nonlinear partial differential equations, his research involves physics, biology, ecology and the social sciences. Among other distinctions, Henri Berestycki has been awarded the Sophie Germain Prize from the French Academy of Sciences and the Gay-Lussac–Humboldt Prize in Germany. Since 2013, he has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Senior Researcher Emeritus (DR émérite) at the French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS), Daniel has been a specialist in molten salt nuclear reactors since 1998. He is the co-inventor of the MSFR (Molten Salt Fast Reactor) that in 2008 became the benchmark molten salt reactor for the GEN IV International Forum. Daniel is also the co-inventor of NAAREA’s XAMR, the 2022 winner of the Codron-Fautz Award presented by the French Academy of Sciences and co-author of Nucléaire : quels scénarios pour le futur, a book on the future of nuclear energy published by La Ville Brûle Editions (2012).

Joël Guidez has managed three reactors: the OSIRIS reactor at Saclay, the European Commission’s High Flux Reactor near Amsterdam, and the Phénix reactor in Marcoule, in the Rhône Valley. A renowned expert in sodium-cooled fast reactors, he has written two books on the knowledge gained from the Phénix and Superphénix reactors. First published in editions of 1500 copies, his books have been republished and translated into English. In 2018, he organized a two-day seminar on molten salt reactors bringing together all of the French stakeholders in the field that helped relaunch research in France on this technology. He has been a scientific advisor at NAAREA since its inception. His third book on fast reactors was published by Elsevier in September 2022.

A Senior Researcher (Directeur de Recherche) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Sylvie Delpech is a specialist in molten salts chemistry. In 2005, she set up a laboratory to study actinides in high temperature molten salts at the Orsay Institute of Nuclear Physics (IPN Orsay). The leader of several national projects in this field and coordinator of the European EVOL project focused on molten salt reactor systems, she also teaches on this topic in the Nuclear Energy master’s programme at Paris-Saclay University.

Timothée Kooyman holds a PhD in nuclear engineering from CEA Cadarache. He worked on the ASTRID project and on developing computational tools for molten salt reactors at CEA, as well as on experimental testing on the CABRI reactor, before joining NAAREA.

A nuclear engineer with degrees from EPFL and ETH Zurich, Boris Hombourger earned a PhD in Physics from EPFL after completing a thesis on the design of molten salt reactor cores. He also developed his experience as a nuclear engineer with a major French nuclear steam supply system company.

David Lambertin holds a PhD from Sorbonne University (UPMC), with a thesis on actinide-lanthanide separation in molten chlorides, and was awarded Accreditation to Supervise Research (HDR) by the University of Lille. A former Senior Researcher (Directeur de Recherche) at CEA, he has over twenty years of experience in various areas of the back end of the fuel cycle and particularly in nuclear materials, molten salts and nuclear waste.

Born in Grenoble in 1941, Michel Allibert graduated as an engineer from the Grenoble Institute of Technology in 1964 and earned his doctoral degree in 1971. A CNRS researcher from 1964 to 2001 in metallurgy at the LTPCM (now SIMAP) laboratory in Grenoble, he studied the physical chemistry of liquids and gases at high temperatures (metals, oxides and salts) applied to metallurgical processes and geochemistry. He has contributed to the study of molten salt reactors since 2001. He is also a consultant on industrial pyrochemical processes.

Elsa Merle has been a professor at the Grenoble Institute of Technology and researcher at the CNRS Subatomic Physics and Cosmology Laboratory (LPSC) in Grenoble for over twenty years, studying the physics, design and safety of nuclear fission reactors, primarily next-generation liquid fuel reactors. She is a co-inventor of the MSFR concept. CNRS representative on the molten salt reactor steering committee at the Generation IV International Forum, she also leads working groups for European and national projects in this field.

With a doctorate in engineering from the Grenoble Institute of Technology, Axel Laureau is a CNRS researcher focusing for over ten years on nuclear reactor physics, multiphysics modelling and nuclear data.