CEA/Valduc
CEA/Valduc or the Valduc center of nuclear studies is a French nuclear facility (CEA, direction of military applications) dedicated to the study, manufacturing, maintenance and dismantling of nuclear weapons.
It is located 45 km north of Dijon near the small village of Salives, to the west of Is-sur-Tille, in the middle of a forest. The site was acquired in 1957 by CEA, with a surface of 670 ha (now 750) and the center built in 1958. The actual site occupies 180 ha. The site comprises "17 basic nuclear installation", making up a total of 25,000 m² of floor. The center is surrounded by a zone where, though through traffic is permitted on roads, photographies and cartography are prohibited.
There are about 1,000 CEA employees working in the center, as well as about 300 employees from contractors. It seems that most employees commute from Is-sur-Tille and Dijon; CEA charters busses bringing employees from various locations in the Dijon agglomeration.
Since a restructuring decision of CEA in 1996, Valduc is the sole site responsible for military nuclear material. From 1980 to 1993, the French Air Force occupied at 40 ha plot where it operated a plant for the assembly of nuclear warheads for air and land-based missiles (ASMP and Hades).
A proportion of the locals considered that Valduc, while imposing constraints and driving people away from the area, does not bring benefits to the area, since most employees commute from away and the center did not pay local taxes. The center, as a public research establishment, did not pay taxes to the commune of Salives, which is a point of contention with that commune's government, which asserts that some of the activities at CEA/Valduc are taxable. In 2003, Valduc was partially considered taxable, a move which CEA contested. (CEA, Financial report 2003). The Dijon administrative court considered that, while the activities related to the military were not taxable, those pertaining to general technology development and consulting for private industry, were taxable.
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Categories: Military stubs