From basic science to social issue: the CEA's role in nuclear energy and alternative sources of energy

By force of circumstance, thoroughgoing changes are under way in the ways we consume and produce energy. Research and development must respond to these changes by making technological innovations and proposing solutions that are safe, competitive, economic with regard to natural resources and respectful of the environment. The French ''Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux energies alternatives'' (CEA) has a leading role to play through its large range of activities: fundamental research and technological research in various fields from biology to nuclear sciences via energy efficiency of buildings and solar energy and through its access to big experimental facilities like Orphee and Osiris reactors or peta-watt Lasers or Soleil synchrotron