---
category: Private Organization
location: France
summary: Saint-Gobain Techniques Nouvelles (SGN) is a French chemical company that
  built the plutonium reprocessing plant at the Marcoule nuclear complex, to which
  Israeli scientists were granted unique access as a key element of France's nuclear
  technology transfer to Israel.
tags:
- Organization
- Private
- France
---

Saint-Gobain Techniques Nouvelles (SGN) is a large French chemical company. It was granted a contract to build a chemical reprocessing plant on the grounds at Marcoule, [France](/places/france/). This plant was a critical element in the making of a nuclear bomb, as it separated weapons-grade plutonium from irradiated uranium fuel.[^1]

[Ernst David Bergmann](/people/ernst-david-bergmann/)'s men were able to contribute to the development of this technology. Israeli scientists were the only foreigners allowed access throughout the secret French nuclear complex at Marcoule, and were said to be able to roam "at will." One reason for this carte blanche was the brilliance of the Israeli scientists and their expertise in computer technology, on which the French would remain dependent for the next decade.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 2.