French nuclear program

French scientists were among the first investigators of radioactivity, and it is not at all surprising that French nuclear programs can trace back as early as any nation's program. A meeting in the spring of 1939, which included Frederic Joliot-Curie and the managing director of the uranium mines in the then-Belgian Congo, Edgar Sengier, discussed the development of a nuclear weapon.

While the Second World War intervened, France, the nuclear program went on hold, but the French Atomic Energy Commission was formed in 1945. As it sought greater world independence under Charles de Gaulle, developed its own nuclear combat capability.

At the present time, it is a declared power under the NPT. It has, however, reduced its nuclear forces, which, at one time, included land-based intermediate-range ballistic missiles, aircraft-launched gravity bombs and air-to-surface missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Arms limitation
France is the sole nuclear power having announced and started the dismantling of its fissile material production facilities.