France will build at least six new nuclear reactors in the coming decades, French President Emmanuel Macron said, Reuters reported.

He said the new power plants would be built by the state-controlled energy supplier EDF, with tens of billions of euros in state funding mobilized to finance the projects and protect EDF's finances.

Promising to accelerate the development of solar and offshore wind power Macron also announced that he wanted to extend the life of old nuclear power plants beyond 40 to 50 years, provided they are safe and secure.

Macron's thinking was shaped by the European Union's ambitious carbon-neutral targets for three decades, which renewed focus on forms of energy that emit less or zero greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, including nuclear.

Macron said the first next-generation EPR reactor would be up and running by 2035. He said the state would take responsibility for securing EDF's finances and its short- and medium-term financial capabilities.