RACT-MADOUX

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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29.5.1916 Paris/F - 30.6.1976 Paris/F

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Xavier Ract-Madoux entered the electric industry in 1940 and joined in 1947 Electricité de France EDF, to stay there all through his career. Initially he was involved in the nationalization process of the Chambéry region and from 1963 took responsibility in the EDF equipment department in Paris. In 1973, Ract-Madoux was appointed Controller General of EDF and thus was responsible for external EDF affairs. His dynamics and technical competence was remarkable, and he did not hesitate to make professional trips all through the world to promote EDF concerns. At the end of his career, Ract-Madoux was a vice-director and departmental head of Studies and hydroelectric projects, EDF, in Paris. He was a Member of the French Association for Studies in Irrigation and Drainage, General Secretary of the French Committee of Large Dams, and Member of Société Hydrotechnique de France SHF.

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Ract-Madoux was involved in a number of typical engineering problems, such as with ice, with hydraulic engineering or with pumping facilities. These were all related to EDF undertakings mainly for improving hydropower schemes, river navigation or new power plants to guarantee the French electrical power supply. His 1964 paper reviews some of the French dams in which Ract-Madoux was involved. From that time, he was together with his colleagues Joannès Cotillon (1922-) and Yves Le May more active with river barrages, given that high-head dams were no more accepted in public.

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_{Anonymous (1949). 3rd IAHR Congress, Grenoble. La Houille Blanche 4(9/10): 645-646. P}

_{Anonymous (1970). Ract-Madoux. 10 ICOLD Congress Montreal 6: 156. P}

_{Anonymous (1976). Xavier Ract-Madoux. La Houille Blanche 31(6/7): 423. P}

_{Ract-Madoux, X., Reynaud, L. (1951). L'exploration des glaciers en profondeur. La Houille Blanche 6(A): 299-308.}

_{Ract-Madouc, X., Bouvard, M., Molbert, J., Zumstein, J. (1955). Quelques réalisations récentes de prises en-dessous à haute altitude en Savoie. La Houille Blanche 10(6): 852-878.}

_{Ract-Madoux, X. (1964). Principaux barrages à l'étude à EDF. Travaux 48(4): 163-170.}

_{Ract-Madoux, X. (1972). Exposé introductif sur les usines d'accumulation et de transfert d'énergie par pompage. La Houille Blanche 27(6/7): 483-485.}

_{Riquois, R., Ract-Madoux, X. (1965). Intumescences observées sur le canal d'amenée de la chute d'Oraison lors des variations rapides de charge. 11 IAHR Congress 3(53): 1-13.}

_{Société Hydrotechnique de France (2005). Xavier Ract-Madoux. Personal communication.}