The WNA's Annual Symposium in London provides the occasion for the presentation of the WNA Award for 'Distinguished Contribution to the Peaceful Worldwide Use of Nuclear Energy'.2001
The first WNA Award went to Corbin McNeil for his leadership in building Exelon Corporation as the leading nuclear utility in the United States and for his visionary support of the innovative PBMR small nuclear reactor project in South Africa. 2002
In 2002 the WNA Award honoured the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) for its crucial role in building the global nuclear safety culture. Presentations were made to three citizen-diplomats who were instrumental in WANO’s creation: • The late Lord Walter Marshall (UK), WANO’s first chairman • Mr Remy Carle (France), WANO’s second chairman • Dr Zack Pate (USA), WANO’s third chairman and WANO chairman-emeritus.
On that same occasion the WNA Award honoured Tokio Kanoh, former Uranium Institute chairman and Japanese nuclear statesmen who played a pre-eminent leadership role, in industry and government, in building his nation’s nuclear programme and creating the necessary foundation of public support.
2003 In 2003, on the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower’s historic Atoms-for-Peace proposal to the United Nations, the WNA Award went to that path-breaking vision, which was honoured by presentations to the leaders of three organizations that embody Eisenhower’s vision. Accepting the WNA Award were: • Susan Eisenhower, President of the Eisenhower Institute • Mohamed Elbaradei, Director General of the IAEA • Hans Blix, Chancellor of the new World Nuclear University, which was inaugurated on that same occasion. 2004 In 2004 the WNA Award honoured Loyola de Palacio for her bold efforts while EU Commissioner to introduce rational thinking into the energy and environment policy of the European Union. 2005 In 2005 the WNA Award recognized the global organization Women-in-Nuclear (WIN-Global). Honoured were 14 individual women from around the world who personified distinguished leadership, whose work spanned the full diversity of nuclear technology, and who together symbolized the role of women in advancing its worldwide use: • Dr Constancia Pagano (Brazil), director of the Radiopharmacy Centre at the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute in Sao Paolo. • Dr Dana Drabova (Czech Republic), head of the Czech nuclear regulatory authority. • Dr Laila Fikri Fouad (Egypt), head of training and international cooperation at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority. • Dr Gabriele Voigt (Germany), head of the IAEA’s Seibersdorf Laboratory. • Ms Junko Ogawa (Japan), president of WIN-Global and a top public relations executive at the Japan Atomic Power Company. • Dr Alum dela Rosa (Philippines), director of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute. • Ms Ludmila Zalimskaya (Russia), deputy head of TENEX, Russia’s major exporter of nuclear fuel products. • Ms Xuehong Liu (China), general manager of China Zhongyuan Engineering Corporation. • Dr Anne Flury-Herard (France), director of the Life Sciences division at the French Atomic Energy Commission. • Ms Marilyn Kray (USA), president of the NuStart consortium of U.S. nuclear operators leading the revitalisation of the American nuclear power industry. • Dr Salimata Wade (Senegal), professor of physiology and human nutrition. • Dr Byung Joo Min (South Korea), director of the Nuclear Training Centre at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. • Dr Anita Nilsson (Sweden), head of the IAEA’s office of nuclear security. • Dr Sue Ion (UK), director of technology at British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). 2006 In 2006 the WNA Award honoured Ian Hore-Lacy for his prolific efforts in bringing objective information on nuclear energy into the international public domain. Also honoured were two pre-eminent world figures in the development of nuclear medicine: • Dr Peter Ell (UK), director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, University College London and Chair of Nuclear Medicine, University of London. • Dr Michael Phelps (USA), Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of California School of Medicine, and inventor of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for imaging biological processes in the human body. 2007 In 2007 the WNA Award went to two men of great symbolic consequence, one representing the UN-supported institutional structure that makes the global use of nuclear energy possible; the other representing the Earth-systems science which warns that the intensive use of nuclear energy is now urgently necessary: • Dr Mohamed Elbaradei, Nobel Prize winner and IAEA Director General • Dr James Lovelock, pioneer in Earth-systems science, world-class environmentalist and bold voice in advocating nuclear power as an environmental necessity. 2008 In 2008 the WNA Award was built on a theme of “The Foundations and Future of Nuclear Power”. Three leaders were honoured, each representing a different dimension of this historic arc: • Pioneer: Dr Theodore Rockwell (USA), long-time technical director to Admiral Hyman Rickover in the U.S. development of the nuclear navy • Innovator: Dr Jacques Bouchard (France), Chairman of the Generation IV International Forum • Educator: Dr Alan Waltar, former head of nuclear engineering, Texas A&M. 2009 The 2009 WNA Award honoured the success of the Republic of Korea’s nuclear programme on its 50th Anniversary. To recognize the contributions of industry, research, academia, and government, the WNA Award was presented to: • Dr Jong-Shin Kim, CEO, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company • Dr Myung Seung Yang, President, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute • Dr Chang-Sun Kang, Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University • Mr Chung-Won Cho, former director of atomic energy, Ministry of Science & Technology.