Published at 12:22, Thursday, 07 March 2013

SELLAFIELD has announced an extra 142 jobs are to be created.

Todd Wright

These are on top of the 500 announced by energy minister John Hayes just before Christmas.

Recruitment for the jobs will start from today.

Copeland Council leader Elaine Woodburn said yesterday: “I am delighted Sellafield Ltd has actually exceeded its expectations in terms of new recruits.

“What this mean is that almost 650 people will have access to secure jobs with good incomes, which can only be a good thing.

“At the time of the 500 jobs announcement in December, we said we’d be keeping an eye on the recruitment process to ensure West Cumbria would benefit mostly from all these new posts. I, for one, will continue to put pressure on the company to ensure this is the case.

“What I’d like now is a breakdown of where the new recruits are from. I hope the majority have gone to people in West Cumbria as promised.”

The company says it is sticking to the pledge. Its stakeholders relations director Rory O'Neill said: “We made a commitment before Christmas that our recruitment campaign would be locally focused, and as we come to the end of the campaign around the end of this month we will be able to look closely at the recruitment process, drilling down where exactly our new recruits are from.

“We’re confident we will meet our commitment to source most of our new workers in West Cumbria.

“All in all being able to offer another 140 new posts on top of the previous 500 is brilliant news. It increases the professional skills base on the site and further establishes Sellafield and West Cumbria as a global centre for nuclear excellence whose best days are ahead.

“It also helps us deliver Sellafield’s mission of accelerating safe and efficient clean up. Because of the progress we’re making and the efficiencies achieved, we are now able to focus even more funding on speeding up the work safely.”

Copeland MP Jamie Reed said: “It’s genuinely good news at a time of economic uncertainty, demonstrating even further Sellafield’s commitment to meet its clean-up and decommissioning objectives.

“What’s important is how we move forward to ensure secure, well-paid jobs are available not only for the present generation of nuclear workers but for future generations of West Cumbrians. I will continue to fight and lobby for more government investment.”

All 642 posts will be filled across the site by process and skilled workers in craft, maintenance, safety and technical, health physics and engineering areas.

About 100 of the jobs will go to apprentices and technical trainees.

Pay rates range from more than £26,000 and £31,000 a year to £55,000 at the highest end of the scale.

Sellafield Ltd’s managing director Todd Wright said at the time of the original jobs boost that the Sellafield workforce was the best he had ever worked with across nuclear sites all over the world. And energy minister John Hayes spoke of the immense contribution Sellafield employment made to both the UK and West Cumbrian economy.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk