Marcoule Nuclear Site
Marcoule Nuclear Site (French: Site nucléaire de Marcoule) 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 km north west of Avignon, on the banks of the Rhone.
| Marcoule Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Location | Chusclan and Codolet communes |
| Coordinates | 44°8′36″N 4°42′34″E |
| Status | Decommissioned |
| Construction began | 1952 |
| Commission date | 7 January 1956 |
| Decommission date | 20 June 1984 |
| Operator(s) | EDF/CEA |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor supplier | SACM |
| Power generation | |
| Make and model | Rateau |
| Units decommissioned | 1 x 2 MW 2 x 38 MW |
| External links | |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
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 experiments took place in Marcoule. Diversification of the site was started in the 1970s with the creation of the Phénix prototype fast breeder reactor, which was operational until 2009, and is nowadays an important site for decommissioning nuclear facilities activities.
As of 2016 the Phénix reactor was planned to be succeeded by the sodium-cooled fast reactor 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 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 ATelier Alpha et Laboratoires pour ANalyses, Transuraniens et Etudes de retraitement (ATALANTE) is a CEA laboratory investigating the issues of nuclear reprocessing of nuclear fuel and of radioactive waste.