Carlos Varandas, a retired full professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, has been re-elected chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Euratom Treaty (European Atomic Energy Community).
In a review of the previous mandate (between 2018 and 2024), Carlos Varandas considers that ‘despite the restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 Pandemic’, which forced a change in the way of meeting, it was possible to ‘focus on enhancing synergies with the Horizon Programme and between Fission and Fusion. Additionally, efforts were made to expand the applications of nuclear technologies in various fields’ such as health, training of qualified personnel and outreach.
As a result, he highlights the production of a document that includes ‘recommendations on how to leverage the peaceful use of nuclear technologies’.
At Instituto Superior Técnico, Carlos Varandas served as coordinator of the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN), ‘one of the most respected institutes in Portugal and Euratom in Plasmas, Intense Lasers and Nuclear Fusion today’, he argues. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, a PhD in Physics and a habilitation degree in Technological Engineering Physics from Técnico. His name ‘relates to the creation of the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), the European Joint Undertaking for the Development of Fusion Energy (F4E) and the signing of the ITER Agreement’ (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor).
The physicist notes that ‘Portugal today has the fifth largest share of Euratom members in nuclear fusion’, which was only possible due to ‘the support of successive presidents of Instituto Superior Técnico and government authorities responsible for Science and Technology’.
