CENTRE

CENTRE DU RIPAULT (CEA—Le Ripault)

Purpose/type: center for pyrotechnics and weapons assembly

Location : a 103-ha area at Monts (Indre-et-Loire), some 15 km southwest of Tours

Period of operation : since 1962

Materials handled : for a certain period, uranium and plutonium

The vocation of the center, located on the site of the former Poudrerie nationale du Ripault, is essentially pyrotechnical. Here "are conceived, developed and tried out chemical explosives, trigger devices and organic materials, used" by the DAM [CEALeR (nd)]. However, at a certain period, the center handled radioactive weapons components.

During the course of the restructuring decided on in 1996, the CEA transferred "nuclear activities relating to defense" from Bruyères-le-Châtel to the CEA/Valduc for nuclear materials and to the CEA center Le Ripault for "other materials" [HC 98]. In other words, the CEA has reinforced the role in regard to "organic materials" of the Le Ripault center [CEARa 97].

Le Ripault assembled "the other [nonpyrotechnical] components around the pyrotechnical edifice." The center delivered the first weapon made in a series to the air force 1 July 1963. After a dozen years, the assembly of weapons was transferred to Cesta [DAM v.88].

Le Ripault has participated in "a program for dismantling weapons that have become obsolete . . . for more than 25 years." The directors of the center declared in 1991: "Our mission is limited to the pyrotechnical part . . . the conventional explosive responsible for causing the nuclear explosion" [Nouv 3.x.91]. But it is possible that in the sixties and seventies, the dismantling consisted of the separation of the pyrotechnical structure from other components.

Le Ripault also helped to maintain weapons, most likely weapons assembled at the center [CEALeR (nd); Nouv 3.x.91].

The production and destruction of explosives releases toxic chemical products, but the effluents, which do not have a directly nuclear origin, are not a concern of this study [see Shulman 92 and USDOE 87].

                                                                                                          Revised 10/7/01

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