THE tricky task of decommissioning a nuclear power plant is being tackled by more than 90 students in a project aimed at attracting young engineers.

Members of Derwentside Engineering Forum are working with youngsters aged 14 to 15, from Blackfyne, Stanley, Greencroft, Moorside, Tanfield and St Bede's secondary schools, in a ten-week initiative called Challenge 2000.

The forum hopes the after-school project will help to promote engineering as a career, to encourage more youngsters to apply for jobs, and improve the calibre of candidates.

Solving the engineering problem will include building lifting devices and containment vessels to cope with the exercise.

A similar project will be run next year with the aid of a £20,000 grant from the Department for Education and Employment.

John Hodgson, business development manager for Derwentside Engineering Forum, who devised the project, said: "The idea is to encourage young people to go into the engineering industry. With the closure of British Steel 20 years ago, parents no longer encourage their children to go into engineering.

"But we are living in a new technological era and there are still engineering opportunities in Derwentside. These young people are the future of engineering."

The project work will be judged at the end of ten weeks and there will be a prize of £150 for the winning school.