CEA Paris-Saclay

{{Short description|French government energy research site}} {{Infobox organization | name = | full_name = CEA Paris-Saclay | native_name =  | native_name_lang =  | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | image = CEA Saclay.JPG | image_size = | image_alt =  | caption = East entrance of Saclay site of CEA Paris-Saclay center | map =  | map_size =  | map_alt = | map_caption = | map2 =  | map2_size = | map2_alt = | map2_caption = | abbreviation = | nickname = | pronunciation = | pronounce_ref = | pronounce_comment = | named_after = | predecessor = | merged_into =  | successor = | formation = {{start date and age|1946|03|01}} | founder =  | founding_location = | dissolved =  | merger =  | type =  | tax_id =  | registration_id =  | status =  | purpose =  | professional_title =  | headquarters = | location =France | coordinates = | origins = | region_served =  | products =  | services = | methods =  | fields =  | num_members =  | num_members_year =  | language =  | owner =  | secretary_general =  | leader_title =  | leader_name = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | board_of_directors = Hervé Barbelin {{small|(2024–present)}} | key_people = | main_organ =  | parent_organization = French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)  | subsidiaries = | secessions = | affiliations = | budget = | budget_year = | revenue = | revenue_year = | disbursements = | expenses = | expenses_year = | endowment = | endowment_year = | funding =  | num_staff = | num_staff_year = | num_volunteers = | num_volunteers_year = | num_students = | num_students_year = | awards = | website = {{Official URL}} | remarks = | former_name = CEA Saclay center (+ separate sites) | footnotes = | bodystyle = }} The '''CEA Paris-Saclay''' center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Following a reorganization in 2017, the center consists of multiple sites, including the '''CEA Saclay''' site (formerly a "center"), the Fontenay-aux-Roses site and the sites of Paris, Évry, Orsay and Caen.<ref name=PS-plan-dacces>{{cite web | title=Institutionnel Plans d'accès | website=CEA.fr | date=2020-08-21 | url=https://www.cea.fr/paris-saclay/Pages/informations-pratiques/plan-acces.aspx | language=fr | access-date=2023-12-09}}</ref>

Historically, as the main Saclay site was the heart of French nuclear research it was called the '''Saclay Center for Nuclear Studies (CEN Saclay)''' prior to the shift towards other fields of research and innovation besides nuclear.<ref name="CEASite">{{cite web |title=Du génie nucléaire au génie biologique |url=https://fontenay-aux-roses.cea.fr/far/Pages/Le-centre/histoire.aspx |access-date=3 October 2023|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rayner-Canham, Marelene F.|title=A Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|isbn=978-0-7735-6658-3|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|pages=97–123|oclc=191818978}}</ref>

The center has close ties with Paris-Saclay University, being located on the Saclay plateau and active in the Paris-Saclay project for innovation.

== Organization == {{Location map many | France Île-de-France | width = | float = | border = | caption = 5 of the 6 sites of CEA Paris-Saclay, in the Île-de-France region of France | image_alt = map of Île-de-France with markers on each site of CEA Paris-Saclay | relief = | AlternativeMap =  | label1 = Saclay | label1_size = 70 | position1 = left | background1 = | mark1 = | mark1size = 5 | link1 = | coordinates1 = {{coord|48.72464189511381|2.155462642697249}}  | label2 = Paris | label2_size = 70 | label2_width = | position2 = | background2 = | mark2 = | mark2size = 5 | link2 = | coordinates2 = {{coord|48.840159115430346|2.273641321386575}}  | label3 = Fontenay | label3_size = 70 | label3_width = | position3 = | background3 = | mark3 = | mark3size = 5 | link3 = | coordinates3 = {{coord|48.78890541127024|2.27609285898295}}  | label4 = Évry | label4_size = 70 | label4_width = | position4 = | background4 = | mark4 = | mark4size = 5 | link4 = | coordinates4 = {{coord|48.623678367156586|2.439311013744917}}  | label5 = Orsay | label5_size = 70 | label5_width = | position5 = right | background5 = | mark5 = | mark5size = 5 | link5 = | coordinates5 = {{coord|48.6989565765341|2.187172498211367}} }} Since February 2017, various sites were grouped together to the CEA Paris-Saclay center, including<ref>{{URL|https://fontenay-aux-roses.cea.fr/far/Pages/Le-centre/histoire.aspx}}</ref><ref name=PS-plan-dacces /> * Saclay site (formerly a "center") * Fontenay-aux-Roses site * Paris site * Évry site (Genoscope) * Orsay site (Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, SHFJ)<ref>{{URL|https://joliot.cea.fr/drf/joliot/en/Pages/research_entities/SHFJ/Presentation.aspx}}</ref> * Caen site (GANIL and {{ill|Centre de recherche sur les ions, les matériaux et la photonique|lt=CIMAP|fr|Centre de recherche sur les ions, les matériaux et la photonique}})<ref>{{cite web |title=CIMAP - Presentation (English) |url=https://cimap.ensicaen.fr/spip.php?article1&lang=fr |website=cimap.ensicaen.fr |access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref>

== History == On 10 October 1945, Charles de Gaulle launched the CEA. In 1946, the Fontenay-aux-Roses site was realized, followed by the Saclay site 6 years later in 1952. The Saclay site, located 20 km south of Paris on the Saclay plateau, is much bigger and was chosen in part to be close to Université Paris-Sud (which today is part of Paris-Saclay University).<ref name=historySaclay> {{cite web |url=https://www.cea.fr/paris-saclay/Pages/CEA-Paris-Saclay/histoire/histoire-de-saclay.aspx |title=Histoire du site CEA de Saclay : Le plus grand centre de recherche en Europe |last= |first= |date=2022-11-25 |website= |publisher= |access-date=2023-10-08 |quote=}}</ref>

The Saclay site was designed by the architect Auguste Perret.<ref>{{cite web |title=CEA de Saclay: le palais de la science d'Auguste Perret |url=http://www.savoirs.essonne.fr/dossiers/le-patrimoine/architecture/cea-de-saclay-le-palais-de-la-science-dauguste-perret/complement/resources/ |access-date=28 October 2022 |language=French}}</ref>

== Research == The complex employs more than 7,500 scientists.<ref name=historySaclay /> Although CEA Saclay was initially focused on nuclear research, multiple domains of research are carried out there since a few decades back. These include:<ref name="ceaPS">{{cite web |title=CEA Paris-Saclay : Domaines de recherche |url=https://www.cea.fr/paris-saclay |website=cea.fr |access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref> * Low-carbon energies * Climate and environment * Matter and universe * Health and life sciences * Technology for industry

===Reactors=== The Saclay site has been home to multiple nuclear research reactors, including the {{ill|Osiris (reactor)|fr|Osiris (réacteur)|lt=Osiris}}, {{ill|Isis (reactor)|fr|Isis (réacteur)|lt=Isis}} and {{ill|Orphée (reactor)|fr|Orphée (réacteur)|lt=Orphée}} reactors.

The Osiris and Isis reactors (operated between 1965 and 2019<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asn.fr/tout-sur-l-asn/l-asn-en-region/ile-de-france/osiris-isis|language=fr|publisher=Authority on Nuclear Safety [Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire]|title=Osiris-Isis|access-date=28 March 2024|date=25 May 2023}}</ref>) inspired the design of Iraq's {{ill|Osirak (reactor)|fr|Osirak|lt=Osirak}} facility.<ref name=osiris>Ramberg, Bennett. ''Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons for the Enemy: An Unrecognized Military Peril''. University of California Press, 1985. p. xvii.</ref><ref>Cordesman, Anthony H. ''Iraq and the War of Sanctions: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction''. Praeger, 1999. p. 605.</ref> Multiple bacterial species were discovered to thrive in those reactor cores during operation, and may have fed off hydrogen from radiolysis.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Microorganisms|date=Dec 2020|issue=8|volume=12|pages=1857–|doi=10.3390/microorganisms8121857|pmc=7760952|title=Direct Meta-Analyses Reveal Unexpected Microbial Life in the Highly Radioactive Water of an Operating Nuclear Reactor Core|first1=Pauline C. M.|last1=Petit|first2=Olivier|last2=Pible|first3=Valérie|last3=Van Eesbeeck|first4=Claude|last4=Alban|first5=Gérard|last5=Steinmetz|first6=Mohamed|last6=Mysara|first7=Pieter|last7=Monsieurs|first8=Jean|last8=Armengaud|first9=Corinne|last9=Rivasseau|doi-access=free|pmid=33255667 }}</ref>

== Notable subsidiaries == * National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN), which is dedicated to the academic and professional training in the field of atomic energy. * {{ill|Saclay Institute of Matter and Radiation|qid=Q30299471|short=1}} (IRAMIS), which houses the {{ill|Lasers, Interactions and Dynamics Laboratory|qid=Q30262349|short=1}} (LIDyL) joint research unit where both Anne L'Huillier and Pierre Agostini attained breakthroughs in attosecond lasers, leading to their Nobel prize share in 2023. * NeuroSpin is a neuroimaging research center with some of the most powerful MRI machines in the world

== Director of the site == * Hervé Barbelin (2024–present)<ref>{{cite web |title=Organigramme du CEA - 15 Juillet 2024 |url=https://www.cea.fr/documents/organigramme.pdf |access-date=2024-07-21}}</ref> * Christian Bailly (2021–2024)<ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-bailly https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-bailly]</ref> * Michel Bédoucha (2016–2021)<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2016-07-04 |title=Michel Bédoucha, nouveau directeur du centre CEA de Saclay |url=https://www.cea.fr/presse/Pages/actualites-communiques/institutionnel/michel-bedoucha-nouveau-directeur-du-centre-cea-de-saclay.aspx |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=CEA/Presse & Médias |language=fr}}</ref><ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-bedoucha-b0645511a https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-bedoucha-b0645511a]</ref> * Jacques Vayron (2012–2016)<ref>{{cite web |title=Michel Bédoucha: a new Director for the CEA Saclay Center |url=https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/News/Michel-B%C3%A9doucha-a-new-Director-for-the-CEA-Saclay-Center-.aspx |website=cea.fr |access-date=28 December 2023 |date=1 July 2016}}</ref> * Yves Caristan (2005–2012) * Jean-Pierre Pervès (2000–2005) * Eliane Loquet (1993–2000) * Jean Bazin (1990–1993) * Paul Delpeyroux (–1990) * ... * {{ill|Jean Debiesse|fr}} (1954–1970) * Jules Guéron (1951)

== People == * Jules Guéron, first director of the CEA's nuclear research center * Jean-Baptiste Waldner, alumnus * Étienne Klein, physicist, philosopher of science, author, and radio host * Anne L'Huillier, ultra-fast laser physics, 2023 Nobel laureate in physics * Pierre Agostini, pioneer of strong-field laser physics, 2023 Nobel laureate in physics * Valérie Masson-Delmotte, climate scientist, co-chair of Working Group 1 of the IPCC

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www-centre-saclay.cea.fr/en Official website of Saclay in English]

{{French nuclear power plants}} {{authority control}}

Category:French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Category:Nuclear history of France Category:Nuclear research institutes in France