TWENTY-SIX new jobs are set to be created following the award of two new Sellafield Ltd contracts.

Sixteen of the jobs are heading to Cleator Moor after Bendalls Engineering, which has a base at Phoenix House, won a 10-year £12 million contract to provide tanks and vessels for the nuclear site. And safety products provider Arco plans to form a new logistics hub at Lillyhall, creating 10 jobs, after winning a four-year £11 million contract.

Romar, based at Whitehaven, has also won contracts to supply workwear and protective equipment, and Workington’s West Cumberland Engineering has won £8m worth of work.

Martin Chown, Sellafield’s supply chain director, said: “We are committed to ensuring our local communities derive maximum economic benefit from the money we spend at Sellafield. We do this by insisting that companies that win work with us invest to support local growth.

“I’m delighted that Arco, a leading UK company, and Bendalls, a home-grown business, will create jobs in West Cumbria as a result of winning work at Sellafield via an open and fair competetive process.

“This demonstrates the unique power of Sellafield Ltd – able to invest in the local supply chain and attract new businesses to the area.”

The new contracts will also represent multi-million-pound savings for taxpayers, adds Sellafield Ltd.

Arco’s contract will see the firm provide conventional, off-the-shelf protective equipment to Sellafield Ltd and other nuclear firms. Bendalls, which has its headquarters at Carlisle, will manufacture high integrity in-cell tanks and vessels, including heat exchangers and evaporators.