BRITTANY

Purpose : support for the Force océanique stratégique

Location : Finistère, at the extreme west of Brittany and opposite Brest

Operator : the Navy

Period of operation : since 1967

Materials manipulated : uranium, plutonium deuterium, tritium

In the sixties, General de Gaulle decided to install the base of the missile-launching nuclear submarines [SNLE] on Ile Longue, a part of the Presqu’île de Crozon. Today, the Navy and the Army, which is charged with protecting the installations, occupy about 750 ha, almost 3% of the peninsula. The sites directly connected to nuclear materials are Ile Longue (123.9 ha), Guenvénez (170 ha) and the îles de Trébéron (3.8 ha) and aux Morts (1.3 ha) [Perrin 95].

The operational base carries out maintenance operations on submarines between patrols. It is composed of :

--a yellow zone which includes a port for receiving submarines and at the quay;

------the reactor workshop (Atelier réacteur) or hot zone, which is located between two basins.  The submarines can be put in dry dock inside the workshop.  "All the operations on the nuclear reactors of the missile-launching submarines  [...] are carried out in this workshop" [Obsan #3, 00].  It is here that the parts of the nuclear reactor are separated and inspected, and the irradiated fuel can be stored in a pool;

------the principal movable  workshop for intervention (Atelier mobile d'intervention principal; Amip).  "Once a submarine has entered the basin, the Amip is put in place and forms a liaison, continuous or by means of an airblock, between it and the nuclear workshop" [Barrillot 99]. 

--a red zone (pyrotechnic), essentially underground, for the assembly, the storage and maintenance of missiles, which is carried out by personnel from Aérospatiale, and for the assembly and maintenance of nuclear warheads.  The assembly of warheads takes place in the buildings of the CEA annex of the Ile Longue pyrotechnical section by "some thirty people, most of whom are attached to the weapons service of the technical department of Cesta

--a blue zone (living) with restaurants and barracks [Greenpeace 95; Obsan #3,00].

Before a major overhaul at Brest, a SNLE visits Ile Longue for the removal of missiles and nuclear fuel, which are stored on the peninsula [Télé 12.xii.93].

The liquid effluents include a coolant from the primary reactor circuit. Saclay treats at least a part of the contaminated water [Birraux 96, CEAD 99]

Radioactive solid wastes from the propulsion reactors of the submarines include ion exchange resins, sludges, and purification filters  and sludges. The wastes also include wastes connected to maintenance, such as oils and protective garments [Andra 00].

The Gwenvénez Pyrotechnical Station stores submarine missiles (missiles and nuclear warheads). The île de Trébéron and île aux Morts, which are within the isolation polygon for the submarine base, probably store conventional missiles and participate in the surveillance of the Ile Longue base [Barrillot 00].

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