Bismark Tyobeka

Dr. Tyobeka was appointed by the Minister of Energy as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Nuclear Regulatory of South Africa since September 2013.

He started his nuclear career 19 years ago as a reactor Physicists at Eskom Enterprises, the South African Electricity Utility Company, before moving on to the roles of Senior Physicist at Eskom Enterprises, Chief Nuclear Engineering Analyst at PBMR Pty Ltd and Nuclear Engineer and Unit Head: Gas-Cooled Reactors at the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA in (Austria, Vienna). During his tenure at the IAEA Dr. Tyobeka was also involved in the IAEA team that advises Member States in the development of new nuclear power programmes. He was involved with countries in Africa, South East Asia, Europe and Latin America. He has also been a visiting Scholar at the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (Netherlands) and the International Research Associate (Idaho National Laboratory, USA).

Amongst many high profile national and international leadership roles; Dr Tyobeka is the Chairperson of the Council of the North-West University; the second largest university in South Africa since March 2017. He previously served as a Member of the University Council, including being a Chairperson of NWU Council’s Transformation Oversight Committee and Executive Committee of Council since November 2014.

Additionally Dr. Tyobeka, as an internationally acclaimed nuclear engineering expert currently serves as the Member of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) appointed by the IAEA Director-General for the period 2016 – 2020.