BURNABY, British Columbia—(September 4, 2013)— General Fusion, the Canadian company developing fusion power, continues to attract the top minds in the energy and technology sectors with the appointment of Jacques Besnainou and Frederick W. Buckman to its board of directors.
Besnainou, 49, is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of AREVA Group North America. AREVA is ranked first in the global nuclear power industry, offering utilities a unique, integrated suite of products and services including nuclear reactor design and construction.
“I am very impressed by the caliber of the team of scientists, management and investors assembled by General Fusion and by the technology path chosen to achieve nuclear fusion in the near future,” said Besnainou. “I am honored and thrilled to join the board at this exciting time for the company.”
Buckman, 67, has a PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT, and has held executive positions in numerous energy and utility companies in the past three decades including The Shaw Power Group, Brookfield Asset Management, Trans-Elect, Inc. He is currently President and CEO of Powerlink Transmission Company, an independent transmission company bringing private capital to large, high voltage transmission networks and projects.
“General Fusion is at the forefront of developing a technology that is very relevant to the future of our civilization and has already made enormous progress with very little funding compared to what governments around the world have spent,” said Buckman. “I look forward to lending my expertise and knowledge of how utilities around the world think and to assist General Fusion in establishing relationships with both private equity and large strategic players in the power generation industry.”
Besnainou and Buckman will provide General Fusion with strong stewardship as the company enters a critical phase in its program to develop economically viable fusion, preparing for the creation of a working prototype magnetized target fusion power plant.
“Fred and Jacques bring many decades of global experience in the energy world,” said Rick Wills, General Fusion’s independent Chairman. “They will play an important role on the General Fusion Board of Directors as we continue our quest to develop fusion energy.”
Wills pointed out that in addition to the new board members the recent establishment of the General Fusion Advisory Board was also part of the strategic goal to increase industry expertise and experience in the company.
Company Founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Michel Laberge created General Fusion in 2002 with a singular focus: to develop economically viable fusion energy. His key insight was realizing that magnetized target fusion – with the aid of modern electronics, materials, and advances in plasma physics – could provide a faster, lower cost and more practical path to fusion power.
Fusion power holds immense promise as a clean, safe and abundant energy source. Fusion power generates neither pollution nor greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Unlike nuclear power, the fusion process cannot run away and produces no long-lived radioactive waste.
Fusion energy is fueled by deuterium and tritium isotopes, which are easily extracted from seawater and derived from lithium, in abundant supply. There is enough fusion fuel to power the planet for hundreds of millions of years.
