INVESTITURE SPEECH AS PRESIDENT OF LAS

 

CLAUDIO RODRIGUES
BUENOS AIRES, 28/06/2006

 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
First of all, I would like to thank you, as members of the Latin American Section, for appointing me for the Presidency of our association for the 2006/2007 term.
It is an honor and a personal pleasure to assume this duty after having worked for over forty years in the area of nuclear science and technology.

I assume as of since now, with the support of all of you, the compromise of maintaining and extending the presence and effective participation of the LAS in, as many as possible, forums of discussions on nuclear energy and its application as an action to improve the quality of life of the people of our region.

 

The challenges, as we know very well, are many and from diverse nature, that in our region are enlarged due to our difficulties from economic and social order.

Our duties, as professionals and as LAS, include a great effort to perform a relevant role on the process of reevaluation of the importance of the nuclear energy for a sustainable development  for our countries.

 

A reevaluation that can not proceed without standing an open and wide discussion of the all aspects that involves the nuclear energy and its application, such as:

 

• Economic viability

• Safety

• Waste

• Proliferation

• Public opinion

 

and  more specifically on nuclear energy application:

 

• Installations and materials

• Health plans

 

These are subjects that LAS and its professionals must be involved, gather with other national and regional groups, in debating and spreading for the society a better understanding, more realistic and less emotional about nuclear energy.

 

LAS should include these issues and other pertinent matters in the agenda of its Executive and Technical Committee meetings, in workshops and in its meetings with the International Nuclear Societies Council – INSC, including the Boards of the Council as well as in events performed on behalf international institutions such as the International Organization Energy Atomic – IOEA, the World Association of Nuclear Operators – WANO, the International Nuclear Energy Academy – INEA and other international institutions.

 

Among the institutions that have relationship with LAS, efforts should be made to maintain and improve its partnership with the American Nuclear Society including direct participation in its Permanent and Technical Committees as well as its Board of Directors’.

 

It is relevant to mention LAS’s current interest regarding the realization, next year, of the Americas Nuclear Energy Symposium (ANES), a biannual event, supported by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Hopefully we can count on their support for the upcoming ANES).

 

It is also important to emphasize that LAS will capitalize all efforts for the realization of its 2007 Symposium. During this event we would like to strengthen the debate about the challenge of the increasing usage of nuclear energy and its application in our region.

 

I would like to thank again all of the LAS members that appointed me to be the new President and also welcome the new Executive Committee members expressing my satisfaction on counting with so many colleagues, from many American Latin countries.

 

At last but not least, I would also like to thank the dedicated work of last year’s Executive Committee members, after a three-year term and call the new Executive Committee members for a hard and profitable work that will bring success to the LAS actuation to increase the better understanding of the society for the utilization of nuclear energy and its application for improving the quality of life in our countries.

Many thanks.

 

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