Guidance

Energy Security Bill factsheet: Fusion regulation

Updated 1 September 2023

If the UK is to move from a fusion science superpower to a fusion industry superpower, we need to help the emerging fusion sector to plan with clarity and confidence. It is now time to look at how the regulatory framework for fusion can support this growing fusion industry whilst maintaining the UK’s high standards of public and environmental protections. - George Freeman MP, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Towards Fusion Energy (2021).

Why are we legislating?

Fusion could be the ultimate clean power solution, representing a low carbon, secure and effectively unlimited source of energy. The basic science and engineering involved in the production of fusion energy is now well advanced, and fusion energy is expected to play an important role over the longer term to decarbonise global energy production.

The UK is widely recognised as a world leader in the most promising fusion technologies with research capabilities across the technical challenges of fusion.

The Government believes that the regulatory framework for fusion should be proportionate and appropriate to the hazards associated with fusion energy facilities. The current nuclear site licencing regime is intended to regulate higher hazard nuclear sites with fissile materials (such as uranium and plutonium). Fusion energy facilities do not require fissile materials and have a significantly lower associated hazard than traditional nuclear (fission) sites, with no risk of a runaway reaction.

The Government therefore believes that nuclear site licencing would be disproportionate for fusion, as that regime was designed for sites with higher hazards than those presented by fusion energy facilities.

This amendment will confirm this position in law and provide the clarity needed to allow regulators to build capability, enable fusion developers to plan with confidence and encourage investment into the UK fusion industry.

How the Bill will achieve this

This measure will amend the Nuclear Installations Act, 1965, to clarify that fusion energy facilities will not be subject to nuclear site licencing requirements, and therefore will not be regulated under the same regulatory regime as nuclear fission. This means that fusion will continue to be regulated in the UK by the Health and Safety Executive and environmental regulators, rather than by the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

FAQ

What is fusion?

Fusion is the process that powers the Sun. When two light elements are “fused” together, they form a heavier element and release excess energy. This is the opposite of nuclear fission (traditional nuclear), in which a heavy element is split to produce two lighter elements and release excess energy.

For decades scientists and engineers around the world have been developing technologies that seek to harness this process to generate energy on Earth. If it can be successfully demonstrated and commercialised, fusion energy technology would provide low carbon, secure, continuous and effectively unlimited power generation.

Is fusion safe?

Yes. The hazards of fusion are lower than with traditional nuclear (fission) power plants. Fusion does not produce long-lived, high-level radioactive waste and there is no risk of a runaway chain reaction. The product of the fusion process is helium, an inert gas. Fusion does not involve burning fossil fuels, so does not contribute to climate change by emitting carbon dioxide.

One of the isotopes of hydrogen used as a fuel, tritium, is mildly radioactive^{[footnote 1]}. Tritium is already used very safely in medical diagnostics and research. The proposed regulatory framework fully reflects the hazards of tritium and has safety at its core.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent intergovernmental organisation that develops nuclear safety standards, states ‘given that a fusion reaction could come to a halt within seconds, the process is inherently safe’.

Background

In October 2021 the Government published the UK’s Fusion Strategy: Towards Fusion Energy. The goals of the Strategy are: to demonstrate the commercial viability of fusion by building a prototype fusion power plant in the UK by 2040 and to build a fusion industry in the UK which can export fusion technology around the world. 

At the same time the Government published a Green Paper outlining its proposals for a regulatory framework for fusion energy in the UK. One of its proposals was to legislate to confirm that fusion energy facilities do not require nuclear site licences. The Government’s response to this consultation has been published prior to the Energy Security Bill’s introduction to Parliament. 

The Government’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme will build a prototype fusion power plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire by 2040. It will support high-skilled jobs throughout its lifetime and help to grow a brand-new industry right here in the UK. This legislation gives STEP and other fusion projects the certainty required to plan ahead in the UK, create new jobs and mobilise investment.  

Private investment in fusion is rapidly increasing (around $5 billion to date globally).

These developments all help to make fusion energy closer than ever before.

Further information

The following documents are relevant to the measures and can be read at the stated locations:

• Consultation response: Towards Fusion Energy (2022)
• Consultation: Towards Fusion Energy, the UK government’s proposals for a regulatory framework (2021)
• Strategy: Towards Fusion Energy, the UK government’s fusion strategy (2021)

1. The radiotoxicity of tritium is low. To have a health effect, tritium needs to be taken into the body through inhalation or ingestion. Almost all the tritium will leave the body before it emits any radiation. ↩