EDF’s top managers tell MPs that Hinkley Point should be postponed

Senior figures at French energy company declare in letter that delay is needed until issues including reactor design are solved

Senior managers at EDF have told MPs that they remain convinced that the French state-controlled group should postpone the Hinkley Point project until it has solved a litany of problems, including the reactor design and multibillion-euro lawsuits over delays on similar schemes.

The letter from EDF managers to the UK parliament's energy and climate change committee is the latest setback for the proposed 18bn nuclear plant, a flagship government energy policy that is intended to provide 7% of Britain's electricity from about 2025, at a time when old coal and atomic plants are closing down.