THE energy secretary has quashed fears that the decision to renationalise the decommissioning of Cumbria's Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant will affect jobs in Warrington.

Decommissioning of the Sellafield site, which absorbs the vast majority of waste produced by the civil nuclear industry, had been managed by Nuclear Management Partners (NMP).

But work will now be supervised directly by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) after the NMP was stripped of its contract to clean up its site following recommendations from the NDA.

Ed Davey was questioned on the matter by Warrington South MP David Mowat in the House of Commons, during which, he confirmed there would be no redundancies made as a result of the announcement.

“I’m pleased that the Secretary of State has confirmed that there will be no redundancies as a result of today’s announcement," said Mr Mowat.

“Outside of the Sellafield itself, Warrington has the biggest concentration of nuclear jobs anywhere in the country - what happens in the industry nationally will be magnified in the town.

“The nuclear sector supports thousands of highly skilled jobs here already and I am determined to see that figure increase.”