André-Claude LACOSTE was born in 1941.

He is a graduate of both the Ecole Polytechnique and of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris.

At the end of this studies, he became a civil servant, and worked firstly for the regional directorate of the Ministry for Industry in 1966 in the region of Nord <Pas-de-Calais. The Ministry of Industry looks after industrial development, the struggle against industrial pollution, and various safety controls. He then worked in Valenciennes, and later in Lille, and in 1971 he became Regional Director in Douai and at the same time, Director of a school of engineers, Ecole des Mines de Douaii.

In 1978, he moved back to Paris to the Head Quarters of the Ministry of Industry, and remained there until 1990 by which time he was in charge of the management of the entire set of regional directorates in this Ministry.

In 1993, he was nominated as director of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, DSIN (Direction de la sûreté des installations nucléaires), which directly reported at that time to the Minister of Industry and to the Minister of the Environment.

In 2002, the french Nuclear Safety Authority was reorganized. This reform aimed to unify the supervision of nuclear safety and radiation protection. The new French Nuclear Safety Authority, DGSNR (Direction générale de la sûreté nucléaire et de la radioprotection), was thus placed under the authority of three Ministers: the Minister for Industry and the Minister for the E,vironment, which respect to nucleat safety activities; and the Minister of Health, with respect to radiation protection activities.

André-Claude LACOSTE is a member of the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA) and a founding member of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA)