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Updated August 2009
Introduction
France is a party to all of the major nonproliferation treaties and international export control regimes. Although it has scaled down its nuclear forces since the end of the Cold War, France still retains a significant nuclear capability. Though France developed biological and chemical weapons during World War I, and restarted these programs during the 1930s, it has ceased activities in both areas. It possesses a limited but diverse missile program.
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Nuclear
France has been a nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) since 1992. In March 2008, French President Sarkozy announced that the country would leave its submarine missile arsenal in place while reducing its stock of air-launched weapons by a third, cutting its nuclear arsenal to around 290 warheads.[1] As of September 2008, France had already pared down its arsenal to approximately 300 nuclear warheads. France's nuclear weapons are carried on 50 Mirage 2000N bombers, 10 Super Etendard carrier-based aircraft, and four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN).[2] From the time it detonated its first nuclear bomb on 13 February 1960, until its final test on 27 January 1996, France conducted 210 tests at sites in the Sahara and on Pacific atolls.[3] In 1996, President Jacques Chirac introduced reforms to the country's nuclear forces, including scaling back the number of French SSBNs from five to four, withdrawing aging Mirage IVP bombers from service, and dismantling the Plateau d'Albion land-based ballistic missile system.[4] France also dismantled its nuclear test facilities in the Pacific and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the protocols to the Treaty of Rarotonga.[5] France ceased production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for weapons in 1992 and 1996, respectively, and in 1998 began to dismantle the corresponding Marcoule reprocessing plant and Pierrelatte enrichment facility.[6]
On 11 March 2009, President Sarkozy announced that France would rejoin NATO after a 43-year absence. However, rejoining the U.S.-led integrated organization will not affect France’s nuclear independence.[7] The country's June 2008 White Paper on defense and national security notes nuclear deterrence remains an essential element of national security.
France generates approximately 80% of its energy from 59 nuclear power plants, and has recent and extensive experience building them. The government-owned company AREVA builds a "third generation" reactor called the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), and President Sarkozy has toured countries from China to Libya promoting French nuclear expertise. AREVA is currently constructing EPRs in Normandy, Finland, and China, with the possibility of future sales to countries such as Brazil, India, and the United Arab Emirates.[8] France also possesses a mature nuclear reprocessing industry. The AREVA La Hague plant has a commercial reprocessing capacity of 1,700 tons of used nuclear fuel per year, and uses the PUREX process to extract uranium and plutonium for recycling in MOX fuel.[9]
Although France exports nuclear facilities and expertise, it also helps to limit the proliferation of especially sensitive materials and technologies through its membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the Zangger Committee (ZAC).
Biological
France possessed a biological weapons program from 1921 to 1926 and again from 1935 to 1940.[10] During these periods, France weaponized the potato beetle and conducted research on the pathogens that cause anthrax, salmonella, cholera, and rinderpest. Its scientists also investigated botulinum toxin and ricin.[11] It acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) on 27 September 1984, and is a member of the Australia Group.
Chemical
France developed and used chemical weapons in WWI and maintained stockpiles of mustard gas and phosgene at the beginning of WWII. During the 1960s, France also manufactured and stockpiled significant quantities of Sarin and VX nerve agents.[12] In a 1988 speech to the United Nations, French President Mitterrand asserted that France had no chemical weapons and would produce none in the future.[13] France ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on 2 March 1995, and is a member of the Australia Group.
Missile
In 2008, France began replacing the 48 M-45 missiles on its four SSBNs with the new M-51 missile. The M-51 is a three-stage missile and has a range of 6,000 kilometers. France also operates 60 Air-Sol Moyenne Porte (ASMP) supersonic cruise missiles with a 250 to 300 kilometer range. The ASMPs are deployed on Mirage 2000N bombers and carrier-based aircraft.[14] According to a June 2008 White Paper, from 2009 onwards ASMP Ameliore (ASMP-A) cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometers will carry France's airborne nuclear weapons. The number of nuclear-capable land-based aircraft will be reduced from 60 to 40. France deactivated and dismantled its 18 S3D intermediate-range missiles on the Plateau d'Albion in the 1990s.[15] France is a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC).
Key Resources
[1] Wade Boese, "France Upgrades, Trims Nuclear Arsenal." Arms Control Today 38, no. 3, 1 April 2008, pp. 35-36.
[2] Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, "French Nuclear Forces: 2008," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 64, no. 4, pp. 52-54.
[3] Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, Second ed. (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), p. 189.
[4] Declan Butler, "France seeks to clean up nuclear image," Nature 380, no. 6569, 7 March 1996, p.8.
[5] Declan Butler, "France seeks to clean up nuclear image," Nature 380, no. 6569, 7 March 1996, p.8.
[6] Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, Second ed. (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), p. 192.
[7] Edward Cody, "After 43 Years, France to Rejoin NATO as Full Member," Washington Post Foreign Service, 12 March 2009, p. A08.
[8] "Business: Power struggle; Nuclear energy," The Economist, 6 December 2008, pp. 81-82.
[9] James M. Hylko, "Features. Nuclear Power: How to solve the used nuclear fuel storage problem," Power, 1 August 2008, p. 58.
[10] Olivier Lepick, "French activities related to biological warfare, 1919-45," in Biological and Toxin Weapons: Research, Development and Use from the Middle Ages to 1945, eds. Erhard Geissler and John Ellis van Courtland Mood (New York: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1999), p. 70.
[11] Olivier Lepick, "French activities related to biological warfare, 1919-45," in Biological and Toxin Weapons: Research, Development and Use from the Middle Ages to 1945, eds. Erhard Geissler and John Ellis van Courtland Mood (New York: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 1999), pp. 78, 82- 90.
[12] Jonathan B. Tucker, War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (New York, NY: Anchor Books, 3007), p. 169.
[13] Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, Second ed. (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), p. 194.
[14] Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats, Second ed. (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2005), pp. 192-195.
[15] Declan Butler, "France seeks to clean up nuclear image," Nature 380, no. 6569, 7 March 1996, p.8.
This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2010 by MIIS.
