Results of an opinion poll that could decide the future of the UK's highly radioactive nuclear waste are to be revealed on Tuesday.
Councils in West Cumbria commissioned Mori to ask people if they want to engage in formal talks towards hosting an underground waste store.
If they say "no", the country will have no solution to the waste issue.
A "yes" vote is likely to result in years of discussions that could bring compensation to local communities.
The poll results will be released at a meeting in Whitehaven on Tuesday morning.
The government decided in 2006 that deep geological disposal was the best solution for the UK's high-level nuclear waste, which is currently held in surface-level stores at nuclear power stations and other sites around the country.
Previous attempts to find a storage solution failed through local opposition.
Geological concernsUnder the current regime, the government asked communities around the UK interested in hosting the geological waste repository to volunteer, mimicking the approach pioneered in Scandinavia.
The only group to express an interest consists of West Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils, which lie within the county boundary.
Copeland is home both to Sellafield, the UK's largest nuclear facility, and the country's main low-level waste store at Drigg.
The body that the councils formed to co-ordinate the process, the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, has been running events across the area aiming to raise awareness of the issue, and recently closed a four-month public consultation.
It received more than 1,500 responses from individuals, organisations and schools, which are published on the partnership's website.
A draft summary indicates that respondents offered a variety of views on issues such as the suitability of West Cumbrian geology, security from terrorist activity and the compensation package that the government should be expected to offer.
A number criticised the government's philosophy of securing consent from a specific locality, saying the overriding priority should be a stable geological site.
Some parish councils within West Cumbria are opposing the scheme, with Bassenthwaite in the Lake District, for example, saying it is "completely unacceptable".
Decision timeGovernment rules make it clear that councils cannot enter into formal talks on hosting a repository if local people are demonstrably opposed.
If the poll returns a "no" vote, that would effectively end the process in West Cumbria.
Nowhere else in the UK has offered itself as a candidate site, though a council in Kent has recently begun to express interest.
So a "no" result in Cumbria would mean that the UK effectively has no long-term disposal option for its high-level nuclear waste, meaning that the material would have to be kept in surface-level stores indefinitely.
A "yes" vote would probably lead to the partnership beginning formal talks with the government later this year.
The councils would retain the right to to pull out for many years, and the first waste would not enter the site until about 2040.
The technology is likely to resemble the approach developed in Scandinavia, in which highly radioactive material is encased in steel and copper and sealed in water-resistant clay inside rock.
Finland is likely to begin filling its geological repository around 2020, which would make it the first country in the world to find a long-term solution for its nuclear legacy.
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