The French government is expected to outline in late October a plan to cut the share of nuclear energy in its electricity production to 50 percent from the current 75 percent, the highest level in the world. It has already said it could take a decade more to get there than an initial target of 2025.
Whether that includes the construction of new nuclear reactors has emerged as a politically sensitive issue for president Emmanuel Macron. Last month the previous environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, who was widely viewed as an impediment to the nuclear industry's drive to remain as France's main power supplier, resigned abruptly.
De Rugy, a former Green lawmaker, told Le Monde newspaper in the interview his gut feeling was that nuclear power was not an energy source for the future, but added that there should be no "war of religions" on the issue.
"The important thing is to know the economic data for both nuclear and renewable energies," he said.
Construction of the first plant in France to use an EPR reactor has run billions of euros over budget and is years behind schedule.