Unions are expected to call the first strikes in the nuclear industry for 30 years by voting in favour of industrial action at British Nuclear Fuels' Sellafield site tomorrow.
A walk-out could lead to the effective shut down of Sellafield, which is responsible for reprocessing spent fuels generated by Britain's nuclear power stations.
Officials at the GMB and Amicus unions are confident that a ballot of some 1,700 workers at Sellafield will return a decision to strike.
The dispute, which dates back to 1999, involves equalising pay between different grades of staff.
But there is also serious concern among the workforce about plans to contract out to private companies certain services at the Sellafield site, such as water treatment, and over the possible intro duction of competition for the running of the entire site. A GMB official said: 'We are confident that there will be an overwhelming yes vote.
'There is a feeling of real anger in the work force that BNFL will not negotiate sensibly over this. If the ballot says yes, we will be ready to call strike action within two weeks, and that will shut Sellafield.'
He added that the union had 150 shop stewards at Sellafield who were giving regu lar reports on opinion among workers. An Amicus official said he expected a 'resounding' yes vote among the union's 600 members at the site.
The strike follows mass shop stewards' meetings at the beginning of September, where there was overwhelming support for a ballot.
A strike would come at a bad time for the company. It would coincide with an expected announcement by the Government of a Bill that will create a Nuclear Decomissioning Authority to take over the enormous decomissioning liabilities built up over decades.
The company has been lobbying hard for the measure to be at the centre of any Bill dealing with energy in this year's Queen's speech. It is concerned about the bad impression a strike will create among Ministers.
A company official said he did not know what the extent of the action would be and stressed that there was an obligation on the workforce to maintain safety standards.
However, he added: 'We hope that this can be avoided. A similar deal has been agreed at our other plants across the country. It will be damaging for the workforce in the long run if it goes ahead.'
He added that workers would be protected by transfer of undertakings (Tupe) regulations on any moves to contract out work in future.
