A company which employs more than 300 people in Cumbria has a new Government contract worth almost £3m.

Amec Foster Wheeler - which has has offices in Westlakes Science and Technology Park, Moor Row, at the Sellafield site as well as staff based at the BAE Systems submarine yard in Barrow - is to set up and run a UK digital reactor design partnership.

This will involve using "virtual engineering" and "high performance computing" to improve the techniques used to design nuclear reactors and make sure they are performing at their best.

The firm's deal with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is worth £2.9m and is part of efforts to put the UK at the forefront of new nuclear technology.

It will work with the National Nuclear Laboratory, which is based in Sellafield, the University of Liverpool’s virtual engineering centre, research body the Hartree Centre in Cheshire, Rolls-Royce, EDF Energy, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London.

The company will also work with the University of Manchester and Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre on issues around structural materials and design codes and standards.

Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler Clean Energy, said: “We are delighted to be working with BEIS and our partners to establish a virtual network that will enhance the techniques used in reactor design, in assessing how reactors will perform during their operating life and how this can be optimised.

“We will be bringing together expertise from industry and academia combining the latest digital techniques, such as virtual engineering, with advanced multi-physics modelling and simulation expertise. The objective is to enhance reactor design capability and assist UK industry to play a crucial role in our future energy security”

Richard Harrington, Energy Minister, said: “I’m very pleased to have awarded virtual engineering, structural materials and nuclear design codes and standards contracts to Amec Foster Wheeler. Partnering with leading UK organisations in the nuclear industry will have a big part to play in helping deliver on our department’s big initiatives, including the Clean Growth Plan and the Industrial Strategy.”