Thousands of Sellafield workers are to strike later this month.

Members of GMB, the union for nuclear workers, announced the strike after a dispute over pay.

The company are accused of ignoring repeated requests for further talks and instead imposed a below-inflation pay offer of just 1.5%.

Following the conclusion of a three-week ballot process today, 76% of ballot papers returned supported the action.

Chris Jukes, GMB senior organiser, said: "Since the days of the cold war, the deal for isolated local nuclear communities like Sellafield has been in that exchange for the risks associated with nuclear waste reprocessing, which most people don't want on their doorsteps, they had stable job opportunities, on decent terms and conditions and with secure pensions when production ceased.

"Gnawing away continually at this social contract has consequences. GMB members at Sellafield have had enough with this unfair treatment that has seen their pay fail to keep pace with inflation over recent years.

"They have had enough of the company imposing their pay upon them, it is no surprise they have voted by more than 3 to 1 to strike.

"The decision to take industrial action is never, ever taken lightly but shows the level of real anger and betrayal felt by our members who want decent pay for the vital work they do, day in day out."

GMB's Sellafield Strike Committee will meet later this week to decide the date for the first strike, with it expected before the end of September.

A spokesperson for Sellafield said: "We believe that a no-strings attached 1.5% pay increase is both fair and reasonable. We made that offer based on company affordability, and it was accepted by the Prospect Union which has collective bargaining rights for the largest group of our workforce.

"The GMB represents around 2,000 of our 10,500 strong workforce. Clearly, we are disappointed at the GMB’s ballot result, and will now start to finalise our arrangements to ensure that the site remains safe and secure during any subsequent action."