Britain to review EDF's Hinkley Point nuclear energy plan

London

BRITAIN has cast doubt on a US$24 billion project with French utility EDF to build the UK's first new nuclear plant in decades, delaying a final decision on the plan just weeks after the "Brexit" vote ushered in a new prime minister.

The surprise decision to review the Hinkley Point C project was made public hours after the board of French state-controlled EDF voted to proceed with it.

The British government, which had been expected to sign contracts on Friday, said instead that it wanted to give the plans further consideration, postponing its verdict until early autumn.

The review came little more than a month after Britons voted to leave the EU in a referendum that forced the resignation of Prime Min…