Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Claird
Coutinho): I am tabling this statement for the benefit of
Honourable and Right Honourable Members to bring to their
attention the launch of the consultation on the scope of the
Fusion Energy National Policy Statement on 8 May 2024.
Fusion energy has the potential to deliver low-carbon, safe,
secure energy and developers, investors, and the wider industry
need to be able to plan with confidence to commercialise fusion
technology. The UK's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy
Production) programme seeks to develop and build in the UK by
2040 a prototype fusion power plant. Private fusion companies in
the UK and overseas are also quickly developing demonstrator
fusion facilities. To deliver these facilities, sites for fusion
energy facilities will need to be identified and construction
started this decade.
If the UK is to maintain its global leadership in fusion and
capture the environmental, economic and social benefits of
fusion, the Government needs to create a stable regulatory and
planning environment that supports and encourages its
development.
In 2022, the Government published a response to the Fusion
Regulation Green Paper confirming that fusion will be regulated
under a different framework than nuclear fission due to its lower
hazard. With this different policy approach, the Government also
identified a fusion specific National Policy Statement (NPS) as
essential to providing clarity to developers and streamlining the
planning process for fusion, aligning fusion with other energy
generating technologies.
This is necessary not only to provide certainty for developers
but also to align fusion with other complex energy generating
technologies which local authorities will lack the expertise to
assess in the near future.
The consultation we have published begins the process towards
designation a NPS for fusion energy (EN-8), including seeking
views on the broad policy proposals for this NPS and high-level
planning criteria.
These broad policy proposals are:
- Open-sited – a developer-led approach underpinned by site
criteria rather than identifying sites. This approach would allow
siting in more communities across the UK subject to local
support.
- Technology inclusive – the UK's Fusion Strategy committed to
supporting all fusion technologies and so the NPS will cover all
fusion technologies.
- Output agnostic – amend the Planning Act 2008 so that all
fusion energy facilities in England will be Nationally
Significant Infrastructure Projects independent of capacity of
thermal or electrical output. This approach was proposed in the
New Nuclear NPS consultation so any amendments to legislation
will be coordinated.
This consultation relates to the exercise of powers in England
and Wales. The Planning Act 2008 and system of Nationally
Significant Infrastructure consenting do not apply to Scotland or
Northern Ireland. The Wales Act 2017 gives Welsh Ministers the
responsibility to consent the construction of power stations of a
capacity up to and including 350MW.
Alongside the publication of this consultation, we will publish a
consultation on the scope of an Appraisal of Sustainability and
Habitats Regulation Assessment. These will inform considerations
of the sustainability impacts of fusion development.
I am depositing a copy of the consultation in the Libraries of
the House.
