Last updated at 17:16, Friday, 15 February 2013

A BILLION-POUND contract to produce new reactor cores for the next generation of BAE Systems submarines in Barrow has been awarded to Rolls-Royce.

The Ministry of Defence says the £1.1bn investment will secure 300 jobs and fund the refurbishment of the firm’s plant in Derby.

Britain’s nuclear weapons system is made up of four Royal Navy submarines, based at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, which can deploy Trident ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads.

Announcing the latest investment, the MoD said replacing the existing infrastructure at Rolls-Royce with state-of-the-art nuclear reactor core production facilities would cost about £500m.

A further £600m will be spent on producing new reactor cores for the Astute and Successor class submarines.

The Ministry of Defence has already set aside £3bn to begin work on the new submarines to replace the four Vanguard class boats.

First published at 15:51, Friday, 15 February 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk