Marcoule
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Marcoule is located in the Chusclan and Codolet French communes, near Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the Gard department, which is in the touristic, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône region. Since 1956, Marcoule is a gigantic site exploited by the atomic energy organization Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) and Areva NC. The first industrial and military plutonium experiments took place in Marcoule. Diversification of the site was started in the 1970s with the creation of the Phénix prototype fast breeder reactor, and is nowadays an important site for decommissioning nuclear facilities activities.
Since 1995, the MELOX factory produces MOX from a mix of uranium and plutonium oxydes. MOX is used to recycle plutonium from nuclear combustibles; this plutonium comes from the COGEMA La Hague site.
The ATelier Alpha et Laboratoires pour ANalyses, Transuraniens et Etudes de retraitement (ATALANTE) is a CEA laboratory investigating the issues of nuclear reprocessing of nuclear fuel and of radioactive waste.
