Dr. Won Seok Park was appointed as the president of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) on 29 March 2019 and took office on 1 April 2019. His three-year term of office will end on 31 March 2022.

Dr. Park graduated from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU) in 1983, and received his master’s degree in nuclear engineering from SNU in 1985 and his doctoral degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Cincinnati, USA, in 1990.

Since entering KAERI in 1990, Dr. Park has held important positions such as Director General of the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor Development Agency, and Acting Senior Vice President of the Reactor Technology Program. On the international front, he has been serving as the vice-chair of the Generation IV International Forum since 2018.

At the inauguration ceremony held at the KAERI auditorium, Dr. Park emphasized that all staff members of KAERI are to make their utmost efforts to regain public confidence, through not being complacent about past achievements and through enhancing their awareness of the serious challenges KAERI is currently facing.

Dr. Park unveiled KAERI’s future management plan and vision, which focus on

• reformative measures to streamline safety management systems,

• KAERI’s rebirth as a multidisciplinary research institute focused on nuclear-based convergence research,

• successful completions of on-going large projects,

• pre-emptive preparations for the likely occurrence of a nuclear cooperation between North Korea and South Korea,

• improvement of research productivity, and

• well-rounded communications with KAERI’s stakeholders.

Furthermore, Dr. Park called for the bringing together of all resources available for KAERI to be reborn as an institute, the re-establishment of safety awareness and research ethnics, the proactive management of nuclear environments, and the regaining of public confidence in KAERI.