King's Speech 2026: Nuclear Regulation Bill

Wednesday, 13 May 2026 12:29

“My Ministers will also take forward recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review and encourage a new era of British nuclear energy generation” Nuclear power is safe, reliable, and clean. A more secure supply of homegrown power helps reduce exposure to the fossil fuel rollercoaster and is essential for stability in our electricity grid. As the Nuclear Regulatory Review showed, our system needs a radical refresh – and this Government is...Request free trial

“My Ministers will also take forward recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review and encourage a new era of British nuclear energy generation”

Nuclear power is safe, reliable, and clean. A more secure supply of homegrown power helps reduce exposure to the fossil fuel rollercoaster and is essential for stability in our electricity grid. As the Nuclear Regulatory Review showed, our system needs a radical refresh – and this Government is committed to a new era of British Nuclear.

This Bill delivers that refresh, modernising the way that new nuclear projects are regulated so we can deliver safe, secure and affordable nuclear power and infrastructure sooner, while maintaining strong environmental protections.

What does the Bill do?

The Government is delivering a golden age of nuclear power: greenlighting Sizewell C in Suffolk, progressing Hinkley Point C in Somerset, backing the UK's first small modular reactors at Wylfa in North Wales and welcoming a new era of advanced modular reactors as part of its clean energy mission.

To speed up the delivery of new nuclear and reduce costs, the Government is overhauling planning and regulation in a boost to the UK's energy sovereignty and the nuclear deterrent. Some of these nuclear reforms are sensible changes for all infrastructure and where this is the case, the Government is ensuring that the right lessons are learnt and applied.

The Nuclear Regulatory Review 2025, led by John Fingleton, found an “overly complex” and “bureaucratic” nuclear regulatory system that favoured process over safe outcomes, holding back the industry and making the UK the most expensive place in the world to build new nuclear projects. The Government's response to the review accepted this diagnosis and outlined plans to take forward all of the recommendations by the end of 2027.

This Bill will support quicker delivery of nuclear projects in a way that produces a win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment, and high standards of nuclear safety. It will reduce the cost of nuclear projects over time, helping deliver clean, secure power at lower cost and protecting households from volatile global gas prices.

Aspartofthe Prime Minister'scommitmentto applythe lessonsofthe Review more widely, the Bill will include measures to support more efficient, proportionate and coordinated regulation across major infrastructure projects, whereappropriate,drawingonbestpracticeidentifiedinthenuclearsector.

The Bill will:

Overhaul existing regulation, giving regulators greater clarity and direction, streamlining the regulatory institutional framework and strengthening regulatory capability and capacity.

Embed a proportionate, outcomes-focussed regulatory and legislative framework, ensuring effort is focused on managing real risk rather than unnecessary process, while maintaining world-class safety and environmental standards.

Improve the coordination and speed of regulatory decision-making, reducing duplication and delay to support timely delivery alongside safety and environmental protection.

Territorial extent and application

The extent and application of the individual measures will vary across the Bill.

Key facts

The Nuclear Regulatory Review found a single nuclear project in the UK can be subject to oversight from up to six regulators in the civil sector and as many as eight in defence, each operating under separate statutory duties and guidance, with no single designated lead regulator responsible for resolving conflicts or driving pace.

The Review identified three fundamental drivers of high cost and delay: an overly cautious approach to risk; prioritisation of process over outcomes; and weak incentives for regulators and dutyholders to minimise social cost and delay.

Regulatory decisions were found to take limited account of the high costs of delay to projects, including financing costs and extended workforce retention and supply chain disruption, when applying proportionality tests such as “as low as reasonably practicable” and “best available techniques” .

The Review also identified a capacity risk, warning of a potential “cliff edge” loss of regulatory capability due to retirements in specialist nuclear disciplines

at the same time as the UK pursues new civil nuclear build, defence renewal, decommissioning and waste programmes in parallel.

The Government accepted all 47 recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review in principle and committed to implementation by the end of 2027, subject to legislative timelines.

In March 2026, the Government committed to:

Establishing a Commission for Nuclear Regulation for nuclear projects to provide a single forum to resolve regulatory disagreement and drive timely decision-making. An interim lead regulator approach is being implemented ahead of legislation to reduce duplication and conflicting requirements.

Moving to smarter, proportionate regulation, focused on material risk rather than exhaustive process.

Increasing use of international standards and regulatory recognition to reduce bespoke UK requirements.

Enabling standardisation and replication, particularly for small modular reactors, to reduce unit costs.

Strengthening accountability for delivery outcomes alongside safety assurance.

The Review estimated that its recommendations could deliver tens of billions of pounds in potential savings, particularly in nuclear decommissioning and future project delivery, while maintaining the UK's high standards of nuclear safety and environmental protection.

Chair of EDF Energy UK, Sir Alex Chisholm KCB, said “The current volatility in global fossil fuel markets underlines the benefit of homegrown nuclear electricity to Britain. Its reputation for safe operation and construction must be underpinned by effective regulation. We welcome the opportunity to help make sure regulation is timely, predictable and proportionate. On the environment, there is no need to choose between protecting nature and the delivery of essential national infrastructure, both can be achieved. The current approach can end up delivering small benefits to local wildlife at a large cost to the country. The taskforce is right to ask if there is a better way.”