Division of Nuclear Power

Alexander Bychkov, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy and INPRO Project Manager, has appointed Zoran Drace as INPRO Group Head, effective 12 November 2012.

Mr Drace will lead the INPRO Group on an interim basis until his retirement at the end of July 2013. By that time, the position, which was advertised in an IAEA vacancy notice, will be filled through the official IAEA recruitment process.

Mr Drace has been with the IAEA for several years and comes from the Waste Technology Section in the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management, where he was Team Leader for predisposal management of radioactive waste.

Before joining the IAEA in 2006, Zoran worked for Ontario Power Generation (OPG), an electric utility company in Canada. He has held various managerial positions related to nuclear waste management, starting with Section Manager for L&IL Facilities Design, then Technical Superintendent at the Western Waste Management Facilities at the Bruce Site during a Facilities upgrade project (e.g. build-up of dry fuel storage, refurbishment of waste processing and storage facilities). Prior to coming to IAEA, Zoran was Manager, Performance Assurance and Design Authority for the Nuclear Waste Management Division of OPG.

Zoran Drace, who was born and educated in the former Yugoslavia, started his career in the nuclear industry working for manufacturing companies that produced components for RBMK and WWER reactors. He then moved to the field of nuclear R&D and was involved mainly in projects and studies on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. From 1984 to 1992, he held the position of Deputy Director of NUKLIN, the Associated Nuclear Research Institutes of Yugoslavia. In 1992, he immigrated to Canada.

Mr Drace holds an MSc degree in nuclear engineering from the Mechanical Faculty of the University of Belgrade. He is a licensed professional engineer (P.Eng.) in the Province of Ontario.