French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed on Thursday to keep France's oldest nuclear power plant at Fessenheim running and slammed his Socialist opponent for promising to close it.

"We will not close this station, it's out of the question," Sarkozy told cheering workers during a visit to the plant, in Alsace in northeastern France.

Ahead of a two-round presidential election in April and May, Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande has promised to reduce France's reliance on nuclear energy from 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting down 24 reactors by 2025.

The Socialist plan includes shutting down the two reactors at the Fessenheim plant, which dates from 1977.

Without mentioning Hollande by name, Sarkozy said the closure of the plant would come "at the cost of jobs in the nuclear industry, the cost of our industrial competitiveness and the cost of our energy independence.

"I will never accept the closing of the Fessenheim station for political reasons," Sarkozy said. "Wanting to close Fessenheim is a scandal, because it would mean sacrificing your jobs for backward political thinking."

About 30 anti-nuclear protesters demonstrated outside the plant during the visit and an aide to Sarkozy met with anti-nuclear activists.

France, the world's most nuclear-dependent country, operates 58 reactors and has been a leading international proponent of atomic energy.

But the country's reliance on nuclear power has been called into question since the Fukushima disaster in Japan, which prompted Germany to announce plans to shut all of its reactors by the end of 2022.

US urges Bulgaria to diversify energy supply
Sofia (AFP) Feb 9, 2012 - The United States increased pressure on Bulgaria Thursday to diversify its energy sector during a visit here of US special envoy for Eurasian energy Richard Morningstar.

"The major point is how important it is for Bulgaria to have transparency in the energy sector as well as diversification," Morningstar told journalists after talks with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev Thursday.

"That includes the nuclear area, the area of gas supply as well as renewables and other unconventional areas," he added.

Morningstar arrived on a two-day trip to Sofia as a follow-up to the visit here Sunday by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that also focused on energy.

Bulgaria is almost totally dependent on Russia for its natural gas and oil and has also contracted Russian company Atomstroyexport to build a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube, even if the project has been put on ice over price haggling.

In talks with Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov also Thursday, Morningstar was cited as having "confirmed the interest of US companies to participate in projects concerning the country's existing nuclear capacities and its plans to build new ones."

Bulgaria currently has only two 1,000-megawatt reactors in operation at its plant in Kozloduy, also on the Danube, and the government is considering the possibility to add a new reactor to the plant.

The minister also discussed with Morningstar "the potential of shale gas as a possible alternative for diversifying the country's gas supplies," his office said in a statement.

Bulgaria withdrew in January a shale gas exploration permit it had granted to US oil giant Chevron and subsequently banned altogether the commonly used shale gas testing and exploration technique of hydro-fracking over environmental concerns.

The US diplomat is expected to meet Friday with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.