Oxfordshire scientists are celebrating after winning a contract worth almost £1m a year to train the next generation of European experts in handling radioactive material.

The contract involves training remote-handling engineers for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, an international project being built in France, which will be the template of any future fusion power stations.

Oxford Technologies, of Nuffield Way, Abingdon, was set up six years ago by Alan Rolfe and Simon Mills, former managers from the Jet project, a nuclear fusion research centre at Culham.

Its staff of 10 contract engineers are all shareholders in the company.

Stephen Sanders, of Oxford Technologies, said: "It's a big deal for us and we are confident that it will run for quite a while. We are already taking on some new staff.

"With a small company you have to be careful how quickly you grow, but we are trying to do it organically."

Jet demonstrated that it would be possible to generate electricity from nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun. Supporters say fusion represents a cleaner, virtually limitless energy source for the future. Fusion causes the machinery to become radioactive, so maintenance work has to be done remotely.

On current estimates, the earliest possible date for a fusion power station would be 2050.