During this first meeting, the discussion focused on recent developments in energy policies in France and the United States, as well as on the possibilities of strengthening bilateral collaborations between the CEA and the DOE.
The CEA and DOE have maintained for decades a fruitful partnership in the field of nuclear energy, which has been extended since 2012 to all low-carbon energies. Daniel Verwaerde and Rick Perry reaffirmed that nuclear energy and renewable energies remain at the core of their development strategy. They decided to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear energy and radioactive waste management, as well as in several research areas in the field of renewable energies, with a view to optimizing and complementarity of their respective capacities.
High-performance computing, on which the CEA and DOE are already widely committed, has also been identified as strategic for both countries, and should be the subject of in-depth joint reflection.
The mission of the Energy Department is to ensure United States’ security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. The DOE is also home to the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the nuclear defense agency. DOE has an annual federal budget of $ 29 billion and has 17 national laboratories on which the vast majority of its 100,000 agents are deployed.