Lawmakers in France, the world's most nuclear-dependent country, have voted to cut reliance on the energy source from more than 75 percent to 50 percent within a decade, Reuters reported.
The measure calls for renewables to increase in the energy mix for electricity production, rising from 23 percent in 2020 to 32 percent in 2030. Use of fossil fuels should drop to around 30 per cent.
The measure also sets a goal for a reduction of 40 percent in greenhouse gas emissions from the 1990 levels by 2030 and a 75 percent reduction in 2050.
It also targets a 20 percent reduction in energy consummation by 2030, in line with a draft project EU leaders are set to consider at an October 23-24 summit in Brussels.
The vote is part of an ambitious makeover of France's energy use promised by President Francois Hollande during his 2012 election campaign. The whole bill is expected to be approved next Tuesday before being sent to the country's upper house early next year, with the view to final adoption in the spring, in time for a high-profile climate conference hosted in Paris in 2015.
France's conservative opposition sharply criticized Hollande's anti-nuclear stance as "ideological" and driven by a need to satisfy green parties which helped get him elected.
At the same time, France signed a nuclear power deal with South Africa, as Pretoria aimed to expand its nuclear power to 9,600 megawatt, DW cited the South African government as announcing on Friday. South African President Jacob Zuma authorized "an agreement on cooperation in the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy" with the French Republic, a statement from his office said.
