article: Angus MacNeil, chairman of the House of Commons energy committee, has called for the project to be re-examined. It follows a letter that EDF chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy sent to his staff, saying the project needed more funding from the French government. The UK government said it was "committed" to Hinkley Point. But Mr MacNeil, an MP for the SNP, said the government needed to urgently rethink its support for the proposal. "It's something that has to be looked into very carefully and very soon because it is a huge obligation and a lot of eggs in quite small baskets," he said. "The Chinese are involved, the French involved, the UK are involved. They need to take a step back because other places have decided not to go ahead with this stuff." In his letter to EDF staff, Mr Levy said: "We are currently negotiating with the French state to obtain commitments allowing us to secure our financial position. "I am sure that this project is a good project for the group and that in the near future, all the conditions will come together for it to be definitely launched. "It is clear that I will not engage EDF in this project before these conditions are met." The company, which is 85% owned by the French government and owns 58 reactors in France, is expected to finalise in April how it will fund the project. It has postponed the decision a number of times. The plan was delayed in January, reportedly owing to funding difficulties. But Mr Levy highlighted in his letter that China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), which will own 33.5% of the project, was investing about 8bn euros (£6bn). He also expressed his confidence in EDF to manage "very large projects". Pressure is mounting as the £18bn cost of the Hinkley project is more than the entire value of the firm. And there is scepticism as the British government has agreed to pay more than twice the current wholesale price of energy once the plant is producing - £92.50 per megawatt hour for electricity, against £37 per megawatt hour. But Prime Minister David Cameron has backed the plan, calling Hinkley Point a "pillar of (the UK and France's) bilateral relationship". Simon Taylor, an economist at Cambridge University, said the letter from Mr Levy showed he was looking for reassurances from the other stakeholders. He said it would be "very embarrassing for the French government to cancel this" but a pull-out from the UK side could also "cast doubt on the UK's entire energy policy" and jeopardise future projects. By Simon Jack, BBC News business editor Imagine British Gas owners Centrica were in financial trouble after sinking billions into a French power station. And then imagine that the bill for rescuing it fell on to taxpayers. That is essentially the risk facing EDF and the French government. The dangers to the company's financial integrity are great enough to prompt EDF's chief financial officer to resign in protest, the French equivalent of the National Audit Office to issue stark warnings and
summary: Fresh doubts have arisen over plans by French Energy firm EDF to build an £18bn nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point, Somerset.