CEA

General Contact
CEA

Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique

Created in 1945, the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) is a public institution playing a major role in research, development and innovation. With a staff of approximately 16000 persons on 9 research centres and a budget of approximately 2.8G€ / year, the CEA has at his disposal a set of unique facilities (supercomputers, research reactors, hot laboratories, large facilities for physics, lasers…). The CEA operates in the fields of nuclear energy (support for nuclear power stations, design of future reactors and fuels, safety, waste management…), defence (design and manufacturing of warheads), technologies (information and communication technologies, nano-technologies, materials and processes, hydrogen and fuel cells technology…), and fundamental research both in physics (nuclear physics, particle physics, condensed mater, climate, materials, fusion…) and in life sciences (radiobiology, nuclear toxicology, structural biology, molecular engineering, medical imaging, biotechnologies,…).

As an expert for energy, CEA is commissioned for the scientific and technical support of the French government related to the short, medium and long term energy policies. It is in charge of maintaining the nuclear option opened for the 2010 horizon. CEA will have three major objectives in the field of nuclear research for the coming years:

  • Providing solutions to the nuclear industry in order to increase its economic competitiveness in the face of growing competition (reducing the cost of the nuclear power kWh at all levels and in total safety; increasing the service life of reactors and improving fuel performance);
  • Responding better to public concerns, by bringing efficient and acceptable technical solutions for radioactive waste management, by deepening our knowledge of the environmental impact of nuclear activities and by improving our understanding of the biological effects, in particular to low exposure;
  • Designing and evaluating new generations of reactor-fuel cycle systems and the key technologies on which they depend, based on the following criteria: reduced investment and economic competitiveness, optimum use of fuel and minimisation of waste (service life, activity, volume), improved safety, increased resistance to proliferation, potential for applications other than electricity (hydrogen production).

This will be achieved notably by strengthening partnership with other research agencies, universities and education and training institutions, which will enable CEA to spread its research within international co-ordinated projects. This policy will result in CEA taking an active role in establishing networks and poles of excellence, especially in Europe within the context of EURATOM, and in the construction of the European Research Area.

The understanding and mastery of actinides and actinide-based materials is a necessary basis for many major issues in the field of nuclear energy. Actinide science represents therefore an important part of the research activity currently run in the Nuclear Energy Division of CEA. This covers the following major topics:

  • Theoretical chemistry of actinides: quantum chemical methods, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods, are coupled to provide relevant chemical, dynamic and thermodynamic information on actinide compounds and processes involving actinides.
  • Physics and chemistry of actinide compounds: assessing the behaviour of nuclear fuel, from reactor conditions to geological disposal conditions, relies on appropriate understanding of the relevant phenomena and properties of actinide based materials: thermodynamic properties, irradiation effects, structural and mechanical evolutions, etc…
  • Chemistry of actinides in solutions: understanding the speciation, complexation and reactivity properties of actinides at the molecular and supra-molecular scales in various environments, is a key issue. This concerns aqueous and organic solutions, separation and extraction systems, natural environments for geological disposal, biological environments…
  • Chemistry of actinides at interfaces: the interaction of actinides with interfaces is also considered, since it rules major effects relevant in separation extraction processes (liquid-liquid interfaces), release from various waste forms (coprecipitation in secondary phases) and transport under geological disposal conditions (adsorption, complexation, desorption, at liquid-solid interfaces).
  • A number of other topics may also be considered, like analytical methods development, actinide behaviour in molten salts or metals…

CEA will contribute to the setting of the ACTINET multi-site user facility by pooling a number of hot labs and nuclearised instruments in ATALANTE in Marcoule, in Cadarache and in Saclay for the chemical, physical and structural study of actinide solutions and compounds.

CEA dissemination and exploitation policy is to patent all the innovation it is involved in and to promote the technology by signing agreement for licensing already existing companies or start-ups. In that later case, CEA can invest money in these start-ups through a specially created Enertec investment fund.

For more information: http://www.cea.fr

Address

CEA-Nuclear Energy Division
F-91191 Gif sur Yvette

France

Contactperson(s)

Pascal CHAIX


Phone +33 (0) 1 69 08 84 38
Fax +33 (0) 1 69 08 15 44
E-mail e-mail