France and UK to build joint nuclear testing facility

Nature : France and the UK have agreed to build a joint nuclear testing facility in France, using technology developed in the UK. Known as EPURE, the facility will image dummy bombs as they explode in order to determine whether warheads remain reliable as they age. The research is essential to the maintenance of the two countries’ nuclear weapons because both have a moratorium on testing. Although the decision to share the sensitive facility has baffled some, Bruno Tertrais, at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said that the motivation is “extremely simple: to save money.”