History
The La Hague site was built after the Marcoule site originally for producing plutonium for military purposes. In 1969 the French military had a sufficient supply of plutonium for weapons and as such, had no use for the reprocessing centre any more. After that point, the factory directed its efforts toward civil operations, and with the reduction of 350 people from the plant's workforce, its military connections ended.
This shift to civil uses was supported by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and strengthened by the 1973 oil crisis.
Read more about this topic: COGEMA La Hague Site
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“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
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