On Friday, the Government set out their response to the nuclear regulatory review 2025. The review found that while the United Kingdom has a strong safety culture, the current system for nuclear regulation and delivery is fragmented, slow, and overly cautious. The Government accept this assessment and shall modernise the system so that it is faster, clearer and predictable, while at all times maintaining high standards of safety and environmental protection. This is needed to deliver on the ambition we have for both for our civil and defence nuclear sectors.
The response we are publishing today addresses all of the review’s 47 recommendations and sets out a coherent and ambitious plan to streamline nuclear delivery in Britain.
We will simplify regulation. Projects that involve multiple regulators will have a single co-ordinating point of contact through a lead regulator model, with the Office for Nuclear Regulation as the default lead for nuclear fission. We will legislate to establish a commission on nuclear regulation to resolve cross-cutting issues and reduce duplication.
We will restore proportionality in decision making. Government will convene an independent expert panel to review how the tolerability of risk framework is interpreted, to guide regulators and industry in nuclear. Regulators will revise guidance, so that it supports proportionate, evidence-based decisions. We will clarify how proportionality, in nuclear, should be applied under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, without reducing protections for workers or the public.
We will strengthen culture, skills and digital capability. We will go further with the nuclear skills plan, and launch a nuclear digital programme to drive the adoption of new tools, such as artificial intelligence and digital twins, across design, regulation, and delivery.
We will speed up the wider planning and environmental system to support nuclear delivery. We will use the nature restoration fund and environmental delivery plans to provide clearer routes for meeting obligations, resulting in better outcomes for nature. For defence nuclear, the Government will bring forward an alternative pathway for compliance with the habitats regulations, where this is necessary in the interests of national security. We will introduce a proportionate biodiversity net gain framework for nationally significant infrastructure, and will legislate to constrain the duty for national parks and national landscapes. We will improve our nuclear siting policy by updating the national policy statement for nuclear, EN-7, to support fleet deployment, and will revise the semi-urban population criterion in a way that maintains public safety while expanding the range of viable sites.
We will make the planning pathway faster and clearer. We will streamline the pre-application phase for development consent orders, and strengthen the initial assessment of principal issues, so that examinations focus on what matters. We will also ensure that the geological disposal facility programme has the powers that it needs, including on land access and bespoke permitted development rights.
International co-operation remains important. The ONR is deepening work with partner regulators, including through recent agreements with the United States and Canada, and we will support a joint international strategy to reduce duplication and share effort. Implementation of these reforms will be overseen by a nuclear regulatory implementation panel, made up of senior figures from Government, regulators and industry, which will report regularly to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and relevant Secretaries of State.
Delay has a cost, so we are already working on some of the reforms, and aim to complete implementation by the end of 2027, subject to legislative timelines. To ensure that live projects like Sizewell C and the small modular reactors programme can benefit, we will begin updating processes, and will issue interim guidance immediately, so that improvements can start now, while we wait to take through legislation.
I want to thank John Fingleton and the taskforce for their work in bringing these issues to the fore, and I make the commitment to all that through this programme, we will cut duplication, strengthen safety by focusing on outcomes, and give investors and developers the confidence to proceed. We are delivering on these recommendations already. Taking these steps is vital for securing our energy future and sustaining the sovereign capabilities that keep our country safe.
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