NEA press room

Press kit

About the NEA

Mr. Luis E. Echávarri
Director-General, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency

Mr. Luis Echávarri was appointed Director-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in 1997, a position he holds at the present time.

Mr. Echávarri, who is of Spanish nationality, was born in 1949 in Bilbao, Spain. Mr. Echávarri obtained Masters Degrees from the Superior Technical School of Industrial Engineering of Bilbao University and from the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutensis University of Madrid. He obtained a post-graduate degree in Management from the Industrial Organization School of Madrid, and is a Fellow of the College of Industrial Engineers of Madrid.

Mr. Echávarri began his career as an engineer in Bilbao and in 1975 joined Westinghouse Electric in Madrid. He went on to become Project Manager of the Lemoniz, Sayago and Almaraz nuclear power plants, for Westinghouse, in Spain. In 1985 Mr. Echávarri became Technical Director of the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN). He was named Commissioner of the CSN in 1987, a position which requires the approval of the Spanish Parliament.

In July 1995, Mr. Echávarri became Director-General of the Spanish Nuclear Industry Forum, a post he held until July 1997.

Mr. Echávarri represents the OECD/NEA on the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency (IEA) since 1997 and he became a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group in 2003.

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Photo (low-resolution, jpg format 45 kb)
Other photos of Mr. Echávarri (at suitable resolution for printing) are available on request. Contact Karen Daifuku for details.