The acme of European research facilities
Cadarache research center for the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA)
Established in 1959, the Cadarache research center serves the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
As one of the most important centers for research and technological development in the field of energy in Europe, the Cadarache center's activities are shared among several technological R&D platforms, primarily for nuclear energy (fission and fusion) but also for new energy technologies such as biomass, hydrogen and solar.
The CEA heads important investment projects which will represent more than one billion euros in the next 10 years.
Currently, its most important project is the Jules HOROWITZ nuclear research reactor under construction – an international project which required the investment of 500 million euros. With a launch in 2014, and a planned operational lifespan of 50 years, the reactor will be a key tool for research on the reactors of the future.
The CEA site spans 4,000 acres and includes 480 buildings with 19 basic nuclear installations. It employs 4,500 persons (excluding ITER) with 2,150 direct employees of the CEA, 1,000 employees of the Areva Group and IRSN, 1,000 permanent employees of outside contractors and 350 temporary staff (PhD students, scientists).
ITER, a 10 billion euro international project, in PACA
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is a prototype nuclear fusion reactor, currently under construction in Cadarache. The ITER project brings together the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and India. Its mission is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of nuclear fusion as a new source of energy. ITER is scheduled to be completed 10 years from now and following an investment of € 4.7 billion.
The reactor will be used to test the technologies needed to develop the experimental reactor DEMO (1,500 MW) whose mission will be to demonstrate the industrial feasibility of producing electricity by fusion.
The operational phase will last 20 years and represent a budget of €4.8 billion. Approximately 3,250 indirect jobs in France, (of which 2,400 just in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region) will be added to the 1,000 direct jobs already planned for. €500 million are budgeted for the safe decommissioning of facilities at the end of the operational period. www.iter.org
French-Japanese industrial partnerships for ITER
Businesses are already positioning themselves in preparation for ITER. The firm from Marseilles Comex Nucléaire has established a partnership with Japan's Mitsubishi which should result in the creation of 70 jobs for highly skilled engineers.www.comex-nucleaire.com
A French-Japanese research center in Marseille
The University of Provence, the CNRS, and the Universities of Kyushu and Osaka in Japan have launched an international laboratory – "The France Japan Magnetic Fusion Laboratory.” Based in Marseilles, this research center will work on the modeling and simulation of turbulent transport in plasmas for ITER. It will also train the future scientists of ITER.
