The future of Cumbria’s Moorside Nuclear Power station has been thrown into further doubt after 68 out of 100 jobs were axed.

NuGen - the joint venture set up to carry out the scheme - has desperately been trying to sell the power station after Japanese developer Toshiba’s nuclear division Westinghouse went bankrupt in March last year.

Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) had been selected as preferred bidder for Toshiba’s shares in the troubled Moorside nuclear project last year after the Japanese company’s nuclear arm Westinghouse went bankrupt.

However the sale, which was expected to be completed by this April, fell through with Toshiba announcing that KEPCO is no longer in the running.

Delays to the sale have led to a review of the project and all 100 UK employees of NuGen were put on notice of redundancy earlier this year.

NuGen says it is retaining only a core team of staff to can help Toshiba push through its sale.

A spokesman for NuGen said: “NuGen staff were informed that owing to the protracted period of time it has taken to secure a way forward for the Moorside project, there would be a phased reduction in the headcount within the NuGen organisation.

“This consultation served to identify the posts that will be required to finalise and complete a transaction for the sale of NuGen and as a result, the team of over 100 will reduce to fewer than 40.

“NuGen’s retained core team will be focused on securing a sale of the NuGen business and supporting Toshiba’s activities.”

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