The CIA Declassified Reports on The French Nuclear Weapons Program (1959)

... describes France’s capabilities in plutonium production, extraction, isotope separation and the development of nuclear weapons as well as puts forward a possible first nuclear test in the Sahara Desert at Reggane (French Algeria). According to the CIA, France began research into the military use of such energy in the mid-1950s to allegedly carry out its first nuclear test as early as November 1959. The report states that Paris would have 15-25 kilograms of plutonium for military use by July 1959 and ...