On 4 April 2001, the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices adopted the report by Claude Birraux concerning the conversion of military plutonium for civilian purposes, and European assistance regarding the safety of civilian nuclear installations in central and eastern Europe. At first sight the conversion of military plutonium to civilian use may seem a technical issue; in fact it is highly political, being based upon exemplary and global international co-operation, involving not only the deployment of common funding but also innovative technologies for eliminating or "neutralising" the so-called "surplus" military plutonium in Russia and the United States. The objective is in fact to make this plutonium – resulting from the decommissioning of nuclear warheads – unsuitable for military use. The report reviews the technological ways and means of achieving this end: immobilisation, or use as a reactor fuel in mixed-oxide (MOX) form or in specific reactors. In respect of each of these approaches, the report reviews the status of technical and scientific knowledge, the R&D necessary, the funding required, and the medium and long-term timetable. In this context France possesses proven technologies that can make a decisive contribution to achieving this internationally important objective. In part 2, Claude Birraux considers the actions taken by the European Union as regards the safety of civilian nuclear installations. Under pressure from member states and the European Court of Auditors, the Commission has adopted a number of proposals aimed at redirecting the policy followed in this field; the question that Claude Birraux attempts to answer is whether they will be sufficient to correct the difficulties that have been observed.