BIRTH AND LIFE OF A COMMUNITY OF REACTOR AND FUEL CYCLE PHYSICISTS AROUND NUCLEAR SCENARIOS

Abstract

The creation of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in 1946, then during the launch of the civil industrial nuclear program resulting from the “Messmer plan” in 1974, the major research and development issues relating to the upstream phase (uranium supply, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication), operation, and downstream phase (spent fuel management, processing and recycling, etc.) of the French nuclear fuel cycle are entirely handled by the historical players in the nuclear industry (EDF and CEA in particular)...