Commission for Atomic Energy (France)

The Commission for Atomic Energy (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique or CEA) is a French public research institute. It employs more than 15,000 people, a large number of them being researchers. CEA has laboratories in various places in France. Two of the most important are in Saclay, in the south of Paris, and Grenoble, in the southeast of France.

CEA was created after World War II as a research body aiming to develop research and industrial capacity in nuclear energy. CEA subsequently became active in civil and military research and development of nuclear power, designing specific types of reactors and conducting fundamental research. CEA then added other fields of activities to its research portofolio, including life science and solid-state physics. CEA research activities are today divided into four departments (pôles), namely defense, nuclear energy, technological research, and fundamental reseach, the last one being divided into physical science and life science. Part of the activities of CEA is applied research. Numerous spin-offs have been initiated from CEA research. CEA's various research centers submit patents regularly.

CEA's activities in nanotechnology have been growing over the past few years, to the point that the Commissariat is by now a major actor in the French national policy on nanotechnology. CEA has also been involved in several major European projects related to nanotechnology. In particular, it was a coordinating member of Nano2Life, which was a European network of excellence organized within the 6th European Framework Program, and which gathered experts in nanobiotechnology from several European countries.

CEA's fundamental research and technological research departments have been the most involved in nanotechnology activities, especially the CEA centers in Saclay and Grenoble. The Saclay centers gathers more than 6,000 researchers, in the various research domains of CEA. Among the laboratories of the Saclay CEA center, the Radiance and Matter Institute (Institut Rayonnement et Matière) has a special focus on nano-sciences. The CEA Grenoble center relies on a laboratory called LETI, which has become a major player in nanoelectronics and nanobiotechnology. With local universities and companies, it is part of a local cluster called NanoBio focusing on nanobiotechnology applications. In addition, the CEA has been a key partner in the Minatec research center. In Grenoble, CEA's emphasis on nanotechnology research and development has been criticized by local activists, who represent a radical critique of nanotechnology.

CEA has been active in the evaluation and management of the potential health and safety risks of nanomaterials, mostly through the European project Nano-Safe. In a context made of local debates (in Grenoble), as well as in discussions at the national level about nanotechnology, CEA has undertaken activities meant to increase understanding of nanotechnology. CEA participated with French science museums in the design and the organization of an exhibit devoted to nanotechnology. Within the NanoSafe project, it has recently released a Web platform called NanoSmile, which is expected to “communicate information about the potential risks of nanomaterials” by distinguishing between “estimated risk level” and “subjective perception.” CEA's focus on contributing to public understanding, and the separation between “real” and “perceived” risks that the Commissariat relies on have drawn criticism by civil society organizations. The latter contend that no relevant public participation can be envisioned within a public understanding framing, since the issue that is to be understood is arguably not open to discussion.

...