The Specialised Command for Nuclear Security (CoSSeN) helps protect civil nuclear facilities and materials against malicious acts. This interministerial service, reporting to the Ministers of the Interior and of Energy, was established by ministerial order in 2016, then granted national-competence status in 2017.
Its missions: understand, anticipate, protect
CoSSeN serves as both a point of reference and a centre of expertise, as well as a tool for coordinating and implementing policies that protect the nuclear sector against any malicious act, attack or threat, particularly of a terrorist nature.
It monitors and trains everyone who has access to nuclear sites, collects reports of events occurring within nuclear entities and helps improve the response to them.
Its missions therefore include coordinating operational concepts and developing the expertise of the internal security forces by designing protective measures against threats and risks, and by helping to prepare exercises that test protection systems.
Ten years of activity: recognised expertise
Over the past decade, CoSSeN has deepened its expertise at the crossroads of security, intelligence and the nuclear field. It has become a central player and an indispensable partner in spreading a shared security culture among institutional and industrial stakeholders.
Outlook: the nuclear revival and new threats
CoSSeN’s role is set to expand in the coming years, as the nuclear revival has now been confirmed, with:
– the extension of the existing fleet’s operating life to at least 60 years,
– the political will to develop civil nuclear power through:
- small modular reactors (SMRs),
- fast neutron reactors (planned by 2050),
- the construction of six EPR2 reactors (two at each of the following sites: Penly, Gravelines and Bugey).
Many companies will join the supply chain, increasing the service’s workload: more people with site access to monitor, more stakeholders to raise awareness among, and possibly new entities to bring into protection programmes. In particular, it can expect a rise in potential requests for CBRN protective equipment, maintenance and training, first on construction sites and then at operating units.
Moreover, while physical threats remain high, new ones are emerging, such as those linked to cybersecurity or AI. Given its strategic importance and its role in core state functions, the nuclear sector is a particular target of foreign digital interference in the form of disinformation operations.
Ten years after its creation, CoSSeN has established itself as a key link in civil nuclear security: a place where intelligence, operational expertise and a security culture shared between the State and industry come together. As the sector enters a new phase, with large-scale construction projects, new players and threats shifting towards the digital sphere, the success of this protection will depend on the quality of cooperation among all those who contribute to it. Anticipate, coordinate, protect: these three verbs, which guided CoSSeN’s first decade, will remain its roadmap more than ever.