THE owners of Hinkley A have warned staff to expect job losses after announcing plans to cut up to 1,600 workers across 12 of its nuclear sites.

Around 230 staff, including contractors and agency employees, currently work at the A station near Stogursey.

Nationwide, Magnox employs 4,500 people and the company said it would reduce numbers by more than a half before the end of September next year.

A spokesman for the company said it was hoped most of the job losses would come from voluntary redundancies.

Electricity generation ceased at Hinkley A in 2000 and the plant is undergoing a lengthy decontamination process.

The spokesman said: "It is important to recognise that Magnox is involved in a programme to decommission and close a number of nuclear sites and that the number of staff employed by Magnox will follow a profile of reducing numbers over the coming years.

"Decisions on resourcing have not been taken lightly and following a review of the requirements for delivering the Magnox closure programme, we have communicated to staff across the organisation that we expect there to be 1,400-1,600 reductions across the 12 sites over the period to September 2016."

She said the reductions were due to "step downs" in the Magnox programme and also as a result of a more streamlined decommissioning process at the 12 Magnox sites.

She added: "These planned reductions will not impact on our safe and secure delivery of the work programme.

"We will seek wherever possible for these reductions to be through voluntary means and we will endeavour to re-train staff in roles where we are currently reliant on agency resources.

"We will work with the Trades Unions to support our employees and to ensure that changes are managed fairly, with respect for the individuals involved and in a way which makes best use of the important skills the workforce have built up."

But Mark Hackett, chairman of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities campaign group, said there were real concerns about the impact of the job cuts in the long-term.

He said: "I regret the decision to make 1,600 workers redundant across 12 Magnox sites.

"These jobs will be made up of experienced nuclear staff working at important and complex nuclear facilities.

"It worries me greatly that the skills these workers have in nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management may be lost.

"I urge the new Government to intervene in order to prioritise resolving deep-seated nuclear legacy challenges over any plans for new nuclear build.

"They need to save these jobs for the nation and help the communities that will be affected by these job cuts."