In a recent report, the ESNZ Committee says it remains to be convinced of the contribution fusion energy will contribute to the country’s energy security in the next decade, and is unconvinced of the need at all for a National Policy Statement (NPS) on fusion energy at this stage.
Putting a new NPS on building the UK’s first fusion energy facilities to consultation was welcomed by a nascent industry seeking regulatory clarity, but the Committee says this only reflects the fact that Government must ensure better mechanisms for providing individual industries with confidence in the planning system.
The Committee concludes that given the interest of developers, and the technological benefits that accrue from the basic research involved, there are issues that must be resolved in future policy guidance.
Simply removing the Office for Nuclear Regulation will not sufficiently cut the bureaucracy of delivering nuclear power, while the relative inexperience of the Environment Agency may lead to the excessive caution that the Fingleton Review found in the regulation of nuclear fission.
Having created a separate NPS for fusion energy, the Government has omitted important provisions on nuclear non-proliferation in its planning guidance for prototype fusion technologies in the UK.
The Committee also repeats the call, from its previous work on planning policy, for the Government to set out how the local benefits of developing fusion energy can be captured and given weight in early planning decisions. Best-practice community engagement should be made statutory, as “it is too important to leave it to developers to decide whether they can afford the time and money to conduct this kind of engagement”.
The Government launched a consultation on the need for a National Policy Statement on fusion energy in May 2024 and the June 2025 Industrial Strategy named fusion energy as a key focus backed up by a £2.5 billion commitment. On 8 June this year the Government published its draft National Policy Statement for fusion energy (EN-8) indicating timelines for a further consultation and for Parliamentary scrutiny.
The Committee has already scrutinised updates to five core energy National Policy Statements (EN-1 to EN-5) and a new National Policy Statement (EN-7 for nuclear power) that replaces EN-6.
