Dr. Gilles Bignan
Dr. Gilles Bignan finished Engineering School
on Nuclear Energy in 1985 and obtained his PhD
on Reactor Physics and Nuclear Instrumentation
in 1989, when he joined the French Atomic
Energy Commission (CEA).
He – as the User Facility Interface Manager at
the Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) – holds a
unique position in one of the most important
projects worldwide regarding the setting-up of
new Research Reactor for the 21st century.
This Material Testing Reactor being built
within an International Consortium (Europe,
India, Japan…) is foreseen to start operation
by the beginning of next decade at the CEA
Cadarache centre and will be an international
facility dedicated for the qualification of
new products (material and fuel) for the
nuclear Industry, the training of young
generations of scientists and the production
of radio-isotopes for medical application.
Dr. Bignan’s work consists (using his 25 years
of experience in the field of research
reactors) in building the nuclear community
around the JHR, gathering a large panel of
research centres, public bodies and industrial
companies. He is a continuing representative
and/or chairman in IAEA Working Groups related
to research reactors and holds 6 patents in
operation.