Fears that security around the Sizewell B nuclear power station site could be reduced were discounted today.

Concerns arose after Andrea Leadsom, minister of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said the number of Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) officers would fall from 1,113 to 931 over the next four years.

Labour critics attacked the drop in the number of officers who protect nuclear sites such as Sizewell B and said Britain needed to keep security at potential terrorist targets at full strength.

However, Ms Leadsom said the reason for the cut was because of the number of power stations being closed at the end of their operational lives and decommissioned and therefore needing less security.

She said: “As sites move to decommissioning the numbers of officers will fall, and will conversely increase as any new nuclear facilities come on line.”

This was confirmed to the EADT by Ch Supt Duncan Worsell, of the CNC, who said: “I can give you an informed and firm assurance that there are currently no plans to reduce staffing levels at Sizewell B, or any other nuclear power station to which we are deployed.

“It is true that there will likely be a generic cut over the next few years, and exactly as suggested, this will match the decommissioning strategy for existing nuclear power stations, and it should not be taken to mean that there will be any reduction at any of those locations where we continue to be deployed.”