Sellafield, home of the world's first civil nuclear reactor, is being considered as the site for a new nuclear reactor by EDF, the French nuclear power giant.

Amec, the engineering group, is likely to work with EDF if Sellafield is chosen after a round of site investigations, which includes a government strategic site study.

Amec has been setting out the case for new nuclear reactors at Sellafield in Cumbria to a group of council, regional development and business interests to win round public opinion.

Nuclear has been part of the Cumbrian economy and landscape since 1947, when work began on the Windscale reactors. The industry was plunged into controversy in 1957 when fire closed the reactors.

EDF Energy, the British unit of the group, has been at the forefront of calling for new nuclear power in Britain. The Government gave the official go-ahead this month, although legislation will take a few months to go through Parliament.

The siting of a new nuclear reactor at Sellafield would mark a huge rebirth for the site, which employs 12,000 people but at present is occupied only in reprocessing spent fuel and the decommissioning of contaminated facilities. Without fresh investment, around 8,000 jobs are expected to go when fuel reprocessing ends in 2014-16.

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