JOBS are being axed at Aldermaston's AWE base as part of a massive series of changes at the site.

About 300 voluntary redundancies have already been made at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

And the company is hoping to lose another 100 workers before the end of March.

AWE chief executive Dr John Rae announced the job cuts as he described future plans which could secure the controversial site's existence at Aldermaston for another 25 years.

He said that the cutbacks from the 4,000 staff didn't mean that the company had stopped recruiting.

"We have appointed about 80 people young apprentices and graduates," said Dr Rae, who explained that the company needed to maintain the right mix of skills.

He explained how the new contractor, AWE Management Limited, had found that Aldermaston had too many staff because it no longer carried out weapons testing and was no longer responsible for as many weapons systems.

"We are responsible for maintaining Trident, (the current nuclear weapons system) and the capability of designing a new one if the Government wants it," he said.

He added that for the past eight to nine months the company had been working on securing a public/private partnership.

This would mean that for the first time under Ministry of Defence rules it would be able to secure private funding such as loans from banks.

And, if funding could be secured, Dr Rae said the MoD could extend AWE's 10-year contract to 25 years.

"We have never had a 25-year perspective before," he said. "We have 12 major new projects and the costs are not firm but we are likely to need about £400 million."

AWE's work includes the repatriation of weapons from the former Soviet Union and the dismantling of those weapons.