France 's nuclear safety authority Thursday warned that some improvements were needed to make sure the country's nuclear reactors can withstand extreme natural disasters but that none of plants present any immediate threat.

"There is no imminent danger," said Andre-Claude Lacoste, the president of France 's nuclear safety authority Autorite de Surete Nucleaire said. "However this is not the end of the safety evaluation process."

France 's opposition Socialist and Green parties have said they would close France 's oldest nuclear plant in Fessenheim, Eastern France , if they win the May 2012 presidential election. But the watchdogs said there is no need for any immediate shutdown.

The ASN called Thursday's press conference after undertaking an initial inspection of the country's 58 nuclear reactors following the Fukushima accident in Japan . The conclusions will be presented in the beginning of 2012, Lacoste said. The review comes in concert with European Union "stress tests" enacted after the Japan accident.

Following an initial inspection, French safety authorities highlighted the need to increase levels of protection against natural disasters at French nuclear installations.

After the nuclear accident in Japan earlier this year, nuclear safety authorities were presented with a conundrum: how to ensure a plant can withstand being hit simultaneously by several natural disasters.

On Thursday the IRSN presented a 500-page report outlining extra security recommendations. The aim of the recommendations is to ensure that in the event of natural disaster, a reactor is supplied with water to keep it cool, staff can continue to work and that toxic spills can be contained.

The report focused on the importance of putting in place several precautionary steps to ensure that all eventualities are covered. Jacques Repussard, the director of The French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety or IRSN, used the example of diesel pumps, which should ensure water flows to the reactor in the case of an electricity blackout.

"If there is not enough fuel for them to function for a long period of time, then what purpose can they serve?," Repussard said. Other proposals include ensuring pipes in reactors are firmly attached and can't be shaken loose by an earthquake and making sure nuclear plant control rooms are protected from toxic fumes.

So far these measures are still at the proposal stage and it could take years before they are put in place, said Lacoste. "It's a long process with a very heavy level of investment," he said.

The report comes as France 's political consensus on nuclear power begins to crack ahead of the 2012 Presidential elections. On Tuesday night, France 's Green and Socialist party formed a tentative pact and said that if they came to power, they would cut the country's share of nuclear power in the energy mix from 75% to 50% by 2025 through the gradual closure of 24 reactors.

The two political parties also said they would shut down France 's oldest nuclear plant immediately, if socialist candidate Francois Hollande is elected president in May. The proposals have been greeted with outrage by France 's ruling UMP party, who say that nuclear energy is critical for the country's economy and independence from foreign fossil fuels.

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