The announcement drew instant protest from environmental groups, which have successfully pushed Germany into a gradual withdrawal from nuclear power.

Junior Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine said the government had decided it needed to keep "all options open" when it decides between 2012 and 2015 whether to renew its nuclear power sector.

Presenting an energy "white paper", or outline policy plan, to the press, Fontaine emphasized that it does not give a blank check to the new nuclear reactor but "another choice would hardly be responsible".

The white paper said that as nuclear power plants came to the end of their lives around 2020 "France will have to be in a position to be able to decide whether or not to replace all or part of the total with a new nuclear series".

At issue, it said, was "maintenance of France's energy independence, low greenhouse gases and stable and moderate electricity prices".

The white paper calls for the construction of a new-generation European nuclear reactor (EPR) within the next eight years. Its cost, estimated at three billion euros (3.42 billion dollars), would be financed by a European partnership of industrial groups.

The Franco-German EPR project, developed since 1992 by the French state Areva group's subsidiary Framatome-ANP and Siemen, could construct a prototype and connect it to the network by 2010-2012 for testing.

France has 58 pressurized-water nuclear reactors in 19 power stations, most of which were built in the 1980s. They provide about 80 percent of the electricity consumed in France and are believed to have a lifespan of about 40 years.

Fontaine said that a test version was vital because technology was evolving rapidly in terms of safety.

A prototype would also improve the way any new power stations were financed and located, she said.

However, she effectively ruled out the possibility the country could give up nuclear power in 2015. "It's imaginable, but it's necessary to remain serious and responsible."

Fontaine said two requirements had shaped the white paper's proposals: energy independence and respect for the environment.

The government aims to increase thermal energy from renewable resources, mainly wood, by 50 percent by 2015, she said.

In line with a European Union directive, the white paper foresees the development of renewable resources to supply 21 percent of electricity consumption by 2010.

Nuclear energy is a highly controversial subject in many countries, but less so in France, where the French pride themselves on their energy independence.

Lacking major energy resources, apart from a dwindling coal industry, France decided decades ago to go nuclear. By contrast, Italy, for example, adopted a non-nuclear strategy and is now a major customer of French electricity exports, a dependency painfully highlighted by the massive and costly blackout across the Italian peninsula last summer.

A report by the International Energy Agency on Monday sounded the alarm about a looming world energy crisis, saying the electricity sector would swallow up the bulk of the 16 trillion dollars (13.9 trillion euros) needed to meet demand over the next 30 years.

France's announcement Friday sparked outrage among anti-nuclear groups and environmentalists.

The Network to Get Out of Nuclear called for a nationwide protest demonstration on January 17 in Paris.

And Greenpeace, which also is lobbying for France to abandon its nuclear dependence, said the government's plan was "a grave error".

"It mortgages away any alternative option," said Frederic Martignac of Greenpeace-France.

WAR.WIRE