Georges VAN GOETHEM is a mechanical civil engineer (UCLouvain Polytechnic, 1974). He then completed a doctorate in fluid mechanics applied to nuclear safety (1979). 
He worked for Belgian industry for several years. He then spent his entire career in international nuclear fission research at the European Commission - more specifically at Euratom.  He spent the first half of his career at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, and then in Brussels at DG Research and Innovation, Directorate for Energy, in charge of the Euratom framework programme (safety, radiation protection, waste management). 
He has launched nuclear education and training programmes as part of the Erasmus programme.
He also initiated a number of scientific collaborations in Europe and abroad on issues relating to the energy mix (i.e. composed of renewable, fossil and nuclear sources). 
His teaching at the Collège Belgique (Royal Academy of Belgium) focuses on innovation in the nuclear field (Generation IV and small modular reactors of the future). 
He also lectures in France at the Ecole des Mines de Nantes and at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne. 
Finally, he gives a series of lectures on the energy mix at the Université des Aînés (UDA) of UCLouvain on the campuses of Brussels-Woluwé and Louvain-la-Neuve. 
He is also a reviewer of the IPCC reports - in particular, Working Group no 3 (i.e. climate change mitigation) - whose sixth report came out on 4 April 2022. 
He is a member of the "Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer de Belgique". As such, he works on issues relating to "access to energy for all" in Africa. 
In his spare time, he leads various citizens' groups concerned about the future of energy in Belgium. He is co-founder of the bilingual Belgian association "100 Terawatthours", which interacts with citizens, the relevant political authorities and the media.