"Europe needs a more coordinated energy policy based on the principles of diversification of sources, security of supply and sustainability," he told reporters in Lisbon on the sidelines of an economics conference.

"We feel the answer lies in increasing the efficient use of energy and the development of alternatives, taking into account respect for the environment. No option, including the nuclear option, should be ruled out," he added.

Concerns over radioactive waste have made nuclear power plants unpopular with a majority of Europeans, especially after the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986.

But policymakers across the 25-member bloc have started to reconsider nuclear energy as a way to reduce their dependence on oil and gas imports and meet international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A brief drop in Russia's crucial gas deliveries to Europe earlier this year has helped fuel this trend.

Last year Finland reversed the move away from nuclear power in the EU by beginning work on a new nuclear reactor which is expected to come online in 2009 and other member states are revising plans to phase out nuclear power.

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