Foratom said Mr Hyvärinen’s appointment began on 1 January 2020 and will run for two years.
Mr Hyvärinen is head of the chief executive officer’s office at Finland’s Fortum Corporation, whose subsidiary Fortum Heat and Power owns and operates the two-unit Loviisa nuclear station in Finland.
He has served as senior vice-president for public affairs at Fortum, head of the recycling and environmental units at the Confederation of European Paper Industries in Brussels and senior advisor at the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. He has been member of the Foratom executive board since 2016.
Mr Hyvärinen said that even though the European commission and the European parliament recently recognised nuclear energy as an important element of Europe’s decarbonised future, the European nuclear industry faces challenges to maintain and improve its role in the energy mix.
“That is why we will do our best to convince decision makers that low-carbon, cost-effective and reliable nuclear energy can help the EU achieve its climate and energy objectives,” he said.
Foratom’s membership is made up of 15 national nuclear associations through which it represents nearly 3,000 European companies working in the industry.
