Marcoule Nuclear Site () is a nuclear facility in the
Chusclan
Chusclan () is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.
Geography Climate
Chusclan has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The average annual temperature in Chusclan is . The average annua ...
Bagnols-sur-Cèze
Bagnols-sur-Cèze (, "Bagnols-on-Cèze"; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France.
History
A small regiona ...
in the
Gard
Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;department of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, which is in the tourist, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône region. The plant is around 25 km north west of
Avignon
Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...
, on the banks of the Rhone.
Operational since 1956, Marcoule is a gigantic site run by the atomic energy organization
and is known as CEA VALRHO Marcoule. The first industrial and military
plutonium
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...
experiments took place in Marcoule. Diversification of the site was started in the 1970s with the creation of the
fast breeder
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. These reactors can be fueled with more-commonly available isotopes of uranium and thorium, such as uranium-238 and thorium-232, as opposed to the rare ...
reactor, which was operational until 2009, and is nowadays an important site for
decommissioning nuclear facilities
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to ...
sodium-cooled fast reactor
A sodium-cooled fast reactor is a fast neutron reactor cooled by liquid sodium.
The initials SFR in particular refer to two Generation IV reactor proposals, one based on existing liquid metal cooled reactor (LMFR) technology using mixed oxide fue ...
ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technical Reactor for Industrial Demonstration), foreseen to become operational in the 2030s. However, in 2019 the ASTRID project was closed.
Since 1995, the MELOX factory has been producing
MOX
Mox or MOX may refer to:
People
* Jon Moxley (born 1985), American professional wrestler
* Mox McQuery (1861–1900), American baseball player
Technology
* Mac OS X, a computer operating system
* Microsoft Open XML, a file format
* Mixed ox ...
from a mix of uranium and plutonium oxides. MOX is used to recycle plutonium from nuclear fuel; this plutonium comes from the
COGEMA La Hague site
The La Hague site is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at La Hague on the Cotentin Peninsula in northern France, with the Manche storage centre bordering on it. Operated by Orano, formerly AREVA, and prior to that COGEMA (), La Hague has nearly h ...
.
The ''ATelier Alpha et Laboratoires pour ANalyses, Transuraniens et Etudes de retraitement'' (ATALANTE) is a CEA laboratory investigating the issues of
nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, the ...
of
nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other atomic nucleus, nuclear devices to generate energy.
Oxide fuel
For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is ...
and of
radioactive waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...
.
Reactors
The site housed a number of the first generation French UNGG reactors, all of which have been shut down. Since then, it has also operated two
heavy water reactor
A heavy water reactor (HWR) is a type of nuclear reactor which uses heavy water (D2O, deuterium oxide) as a neutron moderator. It may also use this as the coolant, in the case of pressurized heavy water reactors. Due to heavy water's low neutron ...
s to produce
tritium
Tritium () or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of ~12.33 years. The tritium nucleus (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the ...
. Cooling for all of the plants comes from the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...
river.
2011 explosion
On 12 September 2011, there was an explosion in an oven used to melt metallic waste of a "weak and very weak" level of radioactivity, killing one person, and injuring four. The explosion happened in the Centraco centre, used by Socodei, a sister company of
. A safety cordon was set up around the plant by fire officers because of the risk of leakage.
CEA VALRHO Marcoule
The CEA in Marcoule have numerous laboratories and research institutes which carry out research into;
* Nuclear reactor waste recycling
* Future nuclear reactor technology (including a fourth generation prototype reactor to be ready by 2030)
*
Nuclear decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to ...
technology
A science museum for the general public, Visiatome Marcoule, devoted to energy issues is located by the Marcoule site.
While most facilities are located at the main Marcoule site, a small number of facilities at Pierrelatte (located close at the Tricastin Nuclear Site) do also belong to the Marcoule Nuclear Site.
In 2007 over 500 million euros was spent supporting the work of the 30 laboratories.http://www-marcoule.cea.fr/home/liblocal/docs/UCAP/PORTAIL/Plaquette%20CEA%20Marcoule%20en%20bref.pdf
Gallery
File:Marcoule Site 1.jpg
File:Marcoule Site 2.jpg
File:Marcoule Site 3.jpg