$1.43-billion nuclear investment for France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the investment plan on Monday, bucking the antinuclear European sentiment which arose following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Despite growing safety concern among neighbouring countries, Sarkozy said abandoning the development and building of new nuclear reactors made no sense. "There is no alternative to nuclear energy today.”

Sarkozy also said "substantial resources" would be going into strengthening research into nuclear safety, and a further $1.85-billion investment would be made in renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power.

The announcement came as Germany draws up plans to shut all 17 of its nuclear stations by 2022, bowing to spreading fears over the apparent lack of safety of atomic power after the Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant was hit by successive natural disasters in March, releasing radioactivity into the environment.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in May that Germany would concentrate on renewable energy. "We want to end the use of nuclear energy and reach the age of renewable energy as fast as possible.”

Another of France's neighbours, Switzerland, has similarly decided not to replace the four nuclear power plants that supply about 40% of the country's electricity. The last of Switzerland's power nuclear plants is expected to end production by 2034, leaving the country time to develop alternative power sources.

In Italy, a proposal by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to restart the country's nuclear energy program, abandoned the 1980s, was overwhelmingly shot down by 94% of voters in a referendum earlier this month.

France has 58 nuclear reactors, which supply 74% of the country's electricity, and it is the world's largest net exporter of electricity from nuclear sources. Sarkozy said France was known to be "considerably ahead" of other countries in terms of atomic power technology and safety.

"Our power stations are more expensive because they are safer," he said.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority is carrying out an audit of nuclear installations to examine the risks of flood, earthquake and loss of power and cooling, as well as emergency accident procedures.

All 143 working nuclear power plants in the European Union's 27 member states are facing new safety tests in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.