Didier HEUZE

50, Boilermaker

Grand Accélérateur National d’Ions Lourds (GANIL)



CEA-DSM/CNRS-IN2P3



 

Metal, my favorite putty


I like sharing the pleasure of manual work, building something from scratch …



I started my career as a sheet metal worker at 17, in iron metallurgy, at SMN (Société Métallurgique de Normandie), and then moved to Paris to earn a better living, and eventually left for Australia. However, I could not get used to the Anglo-saxon way of life… back in France, I was able to take on an "integrated job". This is how I started working in the nuclear field. I had to adjust: working with stainless steel, copper, aluminum, but also titanium and tantalum, safety measures and, above all, very high precision. At GANIL, I work at a scale of a tenth of a millimeter. Although a piece may be very small, it can also be very important. Each one is a prototype, with its design plans provided by the engineering and design department. One advantage of my job is that it is also artistic. I like to show it to interns but also at art workshops. I like sharing the pleasure of my manual work, building something from scratch. I often compare metal with modeling putty. It is always possible to find new shapes.



Image copyright: F.CASTEL