The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...

), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. The CEA maintains a cross-disciplinary culture of engineers and researchers, building on the synergies between fundamental and technological research. CEA is headed by a board headed by the general administrator (currently

François Jacq François Jacq (born 1965) is a French engineer and public administrator known for his leadership roles in scientific and technological organizations. In March 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed Jacq as the president of the board of ...

since 20 April 2018), advised by the high-commissioner for atomic energy (currently ). Its yearly budget amounts to €5.8 billion and its permanent staff is slightly over 21,000 persons.

History

CEA was created in 1945; since then, the successive high-commissioners have been

Frédéric Joliot-Curie Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife, Irène Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were t ...

, Francis Perrin, , ,

Raoul Dautry Raoul Dautry (16 September 1880 – 21 August 1951) was a French engineer, business leader and politician. He was born on 16 September 1880 at Montluçon in the department of Allier; he died on 21 August 1951 at Lourmarin in the department of Vauc ...

René Pellat René Pellat (24 February 1936 – 4 August 2003) was a French astrophysicist who co-founded modern plasma physics in France along with Guy Laval. He also headed major French national research agencies including the French Space Agency and the ...

, Bernard Bigot,

Catherine Cesarsky Catherine Jeanne Cesarsky (born Catherine Jeanne Gattegno on 24 February 1943) is an Argentine and French astronomer, known for her research activities in astrophysics and for her leadership in astronomy and atomic energy. She is the current ch ...

, , and

. In December 2009, French President

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

declared that CEA should change its name from ''Commissariat à l’énergie atomique'' () to ''Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives'' (); this change took effect on 10 March 2010, when the decision was published in the ''

Journal officiel de la République française The ''Official Journal of the French Republic'' (), also known as the ''JORF'' or ''JO'', is the government gazette of the French Republic. It publishes the major legal official information from the national Government of France, the French Pa ...

''.

Research

It conducts fundamental and applied research into many areas, including the design of

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s, the manufacturing of

integrated circuits An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

, the use of

radionucleide A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess numbers of either neutrons or protons, giving it excess nuclear energy, and making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ...

s for curing illnesses,

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

propagation, the safety of computerized systems, etc. It has one of the top 100

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

s in the world, the ''

Tera-100 Tera 100 is a supercomputer built by Bull SA for the French Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique. On May 26, 2010, Tera 100 was turned on. The computer, which is located in Essonne is able to sustain around 1 petaFLOPs maximum performance and a ...

''. TERA 100, first system designed and built in Europe to reach the petaflops in 2010, was ranked in 5th position in the worldwide TOP 500. CEA is now building TERA-1000 which is a key step in the implementation of their Exascale program for the computing needs that CEA would face by 2020. In March 2016,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

published an article describing the "Top 25 Global Innovators – Government" and placed CEA as "number one" amongst "The World's Most Innovative Research Institutions."

Organisation

CEA is divided into four ''directorates'', or divisions:

Energies division (DES)

The (DES) comprises four institutes: * Institut de recherche sur les systèmes nucléaires pour la production d’énergie bas carbone (IRESNE), in

Cadarache Cadarache () in Southern France is the largest technological research and development centre for energy in Europe. It includes French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, CEA research activities and ITER. CEA Cadarache is one of th ...

* Institut des sciences et technologies pour une économie circulaire des énergies bas carbone (ISEC), in Marcoule * Institut des sciences appliquées et de la simulation pour les énergies bas carbone (ISAS), in

CEA Saclay The CEA Paris-Saclay center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Following a reorganization in 2017, the center consists of multiple sites, including the CEA Saclay site (formerly a ...

* Institut de technico-économie des systèmes énergétiques (ITESE or I-Tésé)

Technological research division (DRT)

The (DRT), known also as CEA Tech division, is divided between two CEA sites, at Saclay and Grenoble. CEA Tech focuses on technological research and development in the field of energy, IT (both hardware and software) and healthcare informatics. It plays an active role in transferring knowledge and research to industry. The CEA Tech division is further divided into three research institutes: * The CEA-Leti lab works mainly on micro/nano technologies and specializes in microsystems, biotech, photonics and nanoelectronics. It is located mainly in Grenoble, France. * The CEA-List lab works mainly on systems and software-intensive technology and specializes in embedded systems, sensors and big data, and advanced manufacturing. It is located mainly in Paris-Saclay, France. * The lab works mainly on cutting edge technologies related to energy and

nanomaterials Nanomaterials describe, in principle, chemical substances or materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science ...

. It specializes in building solar, carbon-free transports, biomass-hydrogen and nano materials-nanotechnologies. The current director of DRT since january 2023 is Julie Galland.

Fundamental research division (DRF)

The (DRF) consists of 9 institutes: * Institut de biologie François Jacob (JACOB) in CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses * Institut des sciences du vivant Frédéric Joliot (JOLIOT) in

* Institut Rayonnement-Matière de Saclay (IRAMIS) in

* Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l'Univers (Irfu) in

Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement The Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory (, or LSCE) is a French mixed research unit ( UMR 8212) between the CNRS, the CEA and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, aimed at the study of climate and in particular climate change. It is ...

(LSCE) in

* Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire de Grenoble (IRIG) in * Institut de physique théorique (IPhT) in

* Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion par confinement Magnétique (IRFM) in

* Institut de Biosciences et de Biotechnologies d'Aix-Marseille (BIAM) in

The current DRF director since 2 november 2019 is Elsa Cortijo.

Military applications division (DAM)

The (DAM) builds the nuclear weapons of the

French military The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' military ...

and designs the power plants for the nuclear submarines of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

Facilities

Civilian research centres

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

* CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses,

Fontenay-aux-Roses Fontenay-aux-Roses () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. In 1880, a girls school was opened in the town. It was one of the most prestigious of Paris and even of whole France in t ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

* ,

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

(

Polygone Scientifique The Polygone Scientifique (en: Scientific Polygon), nowadays known as Presqu'Île (peninsula) is a neighborhood of the city of Grenoble in France. It includes a significant number of research centers in a peninsula between Isère and Drac. Hist ...

Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.

* ,

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( ; , ; ; "the Mouths of the Rhône") is a Departments of France, department in southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var (department), Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the sout ...

* CEA Valrhô,

Marcoule Marcoule Nuclear Site () is a nuclear facility in the Chusclan and Codolet communes, near Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the Gard department of France, which is in the tourist, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône region. The plant is around 25 k ...

and

Pierrelatte Pierrelatte (; ) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. Since the 1980s it hosts one of the biggest production plants of the enriched uranium existing in the world, used both for civil and military purposes. Population ...

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Groupe INTRA Groupe INTRA is a French emergency response organization created by the French CEA, and the French nuclear companies Areva and EDF. It maintains a number of emergency intervention teams equipped with high-power radiation-hardened teleoperated mob ...

Research centres for military applications

The sites of the DAM include: * ,

Bruyères-le-Châtel Bruyères-le-Châtel () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. History A nunnery was founded at Bruyères-le-Châtel by a noblewoman named Clotilde. The charter endowing the monastery is dated to 10 March ...

Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.CEA Valduc CEA Valduc or the Valduc Centre for Nuclear Studies is a French nuclear facility, part of the (DAM) of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, French Atomic Energy Commission; dedicated to the study, manufacturing, maintenanc ...

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

* INBS PN CADARACHE, in

CEA Cesta CEA-Cesta or simply Cesta (; ) is a research facility that is part of the (DAM) of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), dedicated to the design of nuclear weapons. The center was established in 1965 on the '' commune'' of Le Barp between B ...

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

* CEA Gramat * CEA Le Ripault,

Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.Orano Orano SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational nuclear fuel cycle corporation headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, Nuclear reprocessing, spent fuel recycling ...

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics Naamloze vennootschap, NV (commonly referred to as ST or STMicro) is a European multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the largest of such companies in Europe. ...

Soitec Soitec is a French multinational corporation that manufactures substrates used in the manufacturing of semiconductors. Soitec's semiconductor materials are used to manufacture chips which are used in smartphones, tablets, computers, IT serve ...

LYNRED Lynred (often stylized as LYNRED; formerly called Sofradir) is a B2B company with headquarters in Palaiseau, France that designs and manufactures infrared (IR) detectors for military, space and commercial applications. LYNRED manufactures both c ...

(formerly Sofradir) * It owned

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

Kalray Kalray is a French fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Montbonnot, France. Corporate history Kalray was founded in 2008 as a spin-off of CEA French lab, with investors such as Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, Safran, NXP S ...

CEA in Academics

University of Paris-Saclay

CEA has played an active role in research, development and innovation in the four main areas of low-carbon energies (nuclear and renewable), technologies for information and health technologies, very large research infrastructures (TGIR), and defense and global security. Moreover, two of the ten CEA centers across France have joined with the

University of Paris-Saclay Paris-Saclay University (, ) is a combined Research institute, technological research institute and Public university, public research university in Orsay, France. Paris-Saclay was established in 2019 after the merger of four technical ''grandes ...

to develop high quality research and training. The centers which form a part of the University of Paris-Saclay include: * CEA Saclay Center, which conducts research mainly in areas related to climate and environment, materials science, nuclear energy, life sciences and technological research * CEA Fontenay-aux-Roses Center, which conducts research and innovation in areas related to imaging and biomedical technologies (Since 2017, these two centers merged into

CEA Paris-Saclay The CEA Paris-Saclay center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Following a reorganization in 2017, the center consists of multiple sites, including the CEA Saclay site (formerly a ...

center, and are now referred to as sites in that center.) The CEA researchers involved in the University of Paris-Saclay represent over 20% of the university's research potential, particularly in the field of physics and engineering. CEA maintains a strong presence in training to master and engineer level by administering INSTN, wherein various courses are taught by its researchers. CEA has around 400 researchers who hold an accreditation to supervise research, making it a significant contributor to the research and doctoral programs of the University Paris-Saclay.

INSTN

The INSTN, ''

Institut national des sciences et techniques nucléaires ''L'Institut national des sciences et techniques nucléaires'' (INSTN, National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology), is a public higher education institution administered by the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commiss ...

'' (National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology) is a public higher education institution administered by the CEA (French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission) under the joint authority of the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research, the

Ministry of the Economy A Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Economic Affairs, or Department of Commerce is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the economy or economic policy. List Examples of such mi ...

, Industry and the Digital Sector and the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs.

Others

* Atos, ENS Paris-Saclay and CEA launched an academic partnership in 2016.

References

Bibliography

Bertrand Goldschmidt Bertrand Goldschmidt (2 November 1912 – 11 June 2002) was a French chemist. He is considered one of the fathers of the French atomic bomb, which was tested for the first time in 1960 in the nuclear test Gerboise Bleue. Biography Bertra ...

, ''Le Complexe atomique : histoire politique de l’énergie nucléaire'', Fayard, 1980 * Gabrielle Hecht, ''Le rayonnement de la France : Énergie nucléaire et identité nationale après la Seconde Guerre mondiale'', La Découverte, 2004 * Marie-José Lovérini, ''L’Atome de la recherche à l’industrie : le Commissariat à l’énergie atomique'', Gallimard, 1996 * Jean-François Picard, Alain Beltran et Martine Bungener, ''Histoire de l’EDF : comment se sont prises les décisions de 1946 à nos jours'', Dunod, 1985 {{DEFAULTSORT:French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Government agencies of France Governmental nuclear organizations Nuclear energy in France Nuclear research institutes Nuclear technology organizations of France Paris-Saclay University 1945 establishments in France