France renews its nuclear arsenal: a program to produce a new generation of warheads has been launched
France launches a new program to produce a new generation of nuclear warheads and resumes tritium production.
This is reported by Euractiv with reference to the words of French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecorne.
The French defense minister made the statement on Monday, March 18, during a visit to the Civaux nuclear power plant in southwestern France, which will produce tritium for the military.
The tritium production will take place on the territory of the French nuclear research and development institution.
Tritium production is primarily associated with an increase in the number of nuclear warheads.
As France senses an unstable security situation in the world and is preparing to strengthen its own nuclear deterrent.
Currently, France’s nuclear deterrent has 290 nuclear warheads, which will be increased to 350.
Since 2016, France has been producing TNO (Tête nucléaire océanique) nuclear warheads used in M51 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The 100-kiloton warheads replaced the older TN75 warheads on M51 ballistic missiles, which entered service in 1996.
Earlier it was reported that the United Kingdom is expanding the number of specialists and facilities for the production of nuclear power plants and warheads.
The increase in staff is related to the general direction of the country: Britain wants to increase the production of nuclear reactors for military and commercial purposes.
The UK nuclear sector is currently undergoing expansion due to a large order of British nuclear submarines under the SSN-AUKUS project by Australia.
