The training in France of Spanish nuclear personnel, c. 1950s–1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACT Foreign assistance was decisive in the formation of the teams in charge of nuclear science, technology and industry in Spain. France played a key role from the end of World War Two, assisting Spanish expertise in all stages of the uranium cycle, from mining to disposal. In this paper, after examining the configuration of the French nuclear complex and the start of French-Spanish cooperation, we will focus on the training of Spanish nuclear personnel, in both the scientific-technical and the industrial side. We will try to prove the importance of France in the whole Western nuclear assistance, and also that, though France was unable to supplant the United States, it was able to grab significant projects and influence in Spain. In the end, nuclear learning proved to be a cumulative and mutual (not symmetrical) process, which far exceeded the temporal, geographical and sectorial limits initially marked out.