France's environment minister on Friday said the controversial nuclear power plant at Fessenheim along the border with Germany would close at the "end of 2018, start of 2019"

"The nuclear power plant will close, I stand by this decision," Sebastien Lecornu said during a visit to the Alsace region where the plant is located.

The German government, which already made the decision to exit nuclear power, has demanded the decommissioning of France's oldest nuclear power plant. The 40-year-old plant has experienced repeated safety-related shutdowns.

The French government wants to close Fessenheim once a new high-pressure reactor goes online in Flamanville in northwestern France. After repeated delays Flamanville should be completed by the end of the year.

German-French solution to job losses

Locals in Fessenheim are worried that the plant's closure will hit jobs and the economy.

Some 850 people work at the nuclear power plant run by energy concern EDF, with another 350 employed in supply firms.

EDF employees have protested the closure over expected job losses.

French media has reported that 2,200 people directly or indirectly rely on the nuclear plant for work.

A steering committee of unionists, business representatives and management has been formed to move forward with closing the nuclear power plant.

The question is not whether the nuclear plant will close but rather what comes next, Lecornu said.

One of the findings of the committee is that German businesses on the other side of the Rhine have had difficultly finding skilled workers.

Eventually some of those impacted by the nuclear plant's closure could find work in Germany, Lecornu said.

There will be a "German-French answer" to the employment question, the minister said.

cw/jm (AFP, dpa)