Among Amparo Gonzalez Espartero’s many childhood memories, one stands out: her grandmother’s house, brimming with gadgets like microscopes and colorimeters and a scientific library where she spent hours immersed in works from Charles Darwin to Albert Einstein. It had all belonged to her grandfather, a pharmacist who ran a laboratory near Cadiz, on Spain’s southern Atlantic coast.
Like most kids, Gonzalez Espartero was a scientist by nature: exploring, experimenting, always asking questions. She continues to use those methods in her role as Unit Head of Spent Fuel Management in the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy, focusing on the storage, reprocessing and recycling of spent nuclear fuel, the transport of nuclear materials and advanced fuel cycles related to innovative reactors.
“When I was a child, I would ask myself questions like: Why does water change its physical form, how does the sky turn red, why are some materials flexible and others not?” said Gonzalez Espartero. “This natural curiosity is what motivated me to pursue science in school and as a career—and remains at the heart of my own scientific journey today.”
The IAEA is highlighting the stories of female scientists like Gonzalez Espartero as part of its drive for a more inclusive workforce where both women and men can contribute to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, which helps tackle challenges from climate change and food security to COVID-19. To this end, the IAEA has launched the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme to encourage women to pursue such careers and become leaders in nuclear science and technology.
Gonzalez Espartero’s scientific journey began at her family home.
While her mother never had a chance to attend university, she encouraged her three sons and daughter to put education first. Her father, a major in the Military Medical Corps and a nurse in civil life, inherited her grandfather’s devotion to science, which he passed on to Gonzalez Espartero.
Gonzalez Espartero studied analytical chemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She began her career in 1991 at the Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT) on a team supporting the Spanish Radioactive Waste Management Organization (ENRESA).
While at CIEMAT, Gonzalez Espartero participated as a researcher in European projects on hydrometallurgical processes for recycling minor actinides (chemical elements that accumulate in nuclear fuel) for innovative nuclear power reactors. Such recycling reduces the radiotoxicity and heat generation of the nuclear waste to be disposed of. Gonzalez Espartero served in leadership roles in two of these projects, coordinating teams from more than 10 European institutions.
In 2011, she was appointed Scientific Secretary of the Spanish Alliance for Research and Innovation in Energy Technologies (ALINNE), a public-private initiative established by the Ministry of Science and Innovation to support Spanish international leadership in the field of energy innovation.
While still working at CIEMAT, Gonzalez Espartero also obtained her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry - spending evenings and weekends in the lab conducting research.
Jose Antonio Gago, who worked with Gonzalez Espartero during his time at ENRESA and is now General Manager and CEO of Spain’s Asociacion Nuclear Asco-Vandellos II, described her personality as “the perfect mix of youthful enthusiasm, self-confidence, rigor and sense of humor”.
During a 2008 work trip to Japan, Gonzalez Espartero surprised everyone at a gala dinner party by showing up in a kimono. She ended up playing Japanese drums with the band. “I’ve always liked singing and dancing as they make all your troubles go away,” said Espartero Gonzalez, who takes ballet lessons in Vienna. “I used to even dance in the lab, wearing full protective clothing.”
