Anti-nuclear activists take part in a protest at Fessenheim, France's oldest nuclear reactor, on Sunday to demand its closure. France will invest one billion euros ($1.4 billion) in future nuclear power development while boosting research into security, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday.

France will invest one billion euros ($1.4 billion) in future nuclear power development while boosting research into security, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday.

"We are going to devote a billion euros to the nuclear programme of the future, particularly fourth-generation technology," Sarkozy told a news conference, reviewing the government's "big loan" stimulus lending programme.

"We are also going to release substantial resources from the big loan to strengthen research in the sphere of nuclear safety," he added.

France produces most of its energy from nuclear power. Some countries, notably its EU neighbour Germany, have rejected nuclear power after the Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan.

(c) 2011 AFP