Marcoule Nuclear Site (french: Site nucléaire de Marcoule) 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 annual ...

and Codolet communes, near

Bagnols-sur-Cèze Bagnols-sur-Cèze (, literally ''Bagnols on Cèze''; oc, Banhòus de Céser) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie région in southern France. History A small regional center, Bagnols-sur-Cèze was quite certainly a Roman town ( ...

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 Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, which is in the tourist, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône region. The plant is around 25 km north west of

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

, on the banks of the Rhone. Operational since 1956, Marcoule is a gigantic site run by the atomic energy organization Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) and Areva NC and is known as CEA VALRHO Marcoule. The first industrial and military

plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibi ...

experiments took place in Marcoule. Diversification of the site was started in the 1970s with the creation of the

Phénix Phénix (French for phoenix) was a small-scale (gross 264/net 233 MWe) prototype fast breeder reactor, located at the Marcoule nuclear site, near Orange, France. It was a pool-type liquid-metal fast breeder reactor cooled with liquid sodium. It ...

prototype

fast breeder A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile mate ...

reactor, which was operational until 2009, and is nowadays an important site for

decommissioning nuclear facilities Nuclear decommissioning is the process whereby a nuclear facility is dismantled to the point that it no longer requires measures for radiation protection. The presence of radioactive material necessitates processes that are potentially occupa ...

activities. the Phénix reactor was planned to be succeeded by the

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 Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alt ...

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 (''Compagnie général ...

. 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 ...

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...

and of

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

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 pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water ( deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel, but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium. T ...

s to produce tritium. Cooling for all of the plants comes from the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

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

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

. 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 whereby a nuclear facility is dismantled to the point that it no longer requires measures for radiation protection. The presence of radioactive material necessitates processes that are potentially occupat ...

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

References

External links

The French Nuclear Safety Authority - French Nuclear Safety AuthorityVisiatome Marcoule
science museum
G2 (and G3)
Nuclear Engineering International wall chart, December 1959 {{authority control Energy infrastructure completed in 1956 Nuclear research institutes in France Nuclear history of France Nuclear technology in France Military nuclear reactors Buildings and structures in Gard Former nuclear power stations in France Nuclear power stations with closed reactors Nuclear reprocessing sites