Taskforce calls for reforms to UK nuclear regulation

The taskforce was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on 6 February. Led by John Fingleton, former CEO of the Office of Fair Trading, the taskforce's objective is to speed up the approval of new reactor designs and streamline how developers engage with regulators.

"Over time, the regulation of civil and defence nuclear programmes has become increasingly complex and bureaucratic, leading to huge delays and ballooning costs, often for marginal benefit," the taskforce said in its interim report. "With the UK's ambitious civil and defence programmes set to expand to meet energy security, net-zero, and deterrent demands, a reset is needed. Our regulatory system needs radical reform to enable speedy and cost-effective delivery of new civil and defence investment and existing operations."

It continues: "Radical, once-in-a-generation reform could transform nuclear delivery in several critical areas, while maintaining the highest safety standards. These include overly complex and inconsistent regulatory processes, risk-averse cultures that prioritise bureaucracy over proportionate safety measures, and outdated planning frameworks that fail to support new technologies like small modular reactors."

The taskforce said it has identified six areas where it sees the greatest opportunities for a radical reset.

"Given the scale of these areas, we believe that government should immediately provide a strategic steer that will focus nuclear regulators and duty holders alike on effective delivery," the report says. "We recognise that making changes to the regulatory landscape can have wide-reaching implications and so we are seeking feedback on our assessment of the problems, before we turn to proposing solutions."

The taskforce intends to build on the "emerging thinking" set out in this interim report and said it will work with stakeholders to continue fleshing out potential recommendations. These recommendations will be published later this year.

It said the final report's recommendations will focus on: tackling a culture of risk aversion and reluctance to challenge and debate; addressing complex and inconsistent regulations; an outdated planning framework that does not support innovative technologies such as small and advanced modular reactors; maintaining a range and depth of expertise across the workforce; the potential for greater standardisation across international regulators; and improving the regulatory understanding of the cost of project delays to ensure safety measures are proportionate.

"Nuclear energy is safe and reliable and can contribute to net-zero goals," taskforce leader John Fingleton said. "It is also vital to the UK's strategic deterrent. However, over recent decades, nuclear regulation has become more complex and costly without always delivering commensurate safety and environmental benefits.

"Our interim report identifies our main concerns with the current system which we think is not fit for purpose. With a view to recommending a once-in-a-generation reset, we now invite views from interested parties on what solutions will better enable the UK to achieve the huge benefits nuclear power offers."

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said it recognises the taskforce's early identification of "some regulatory challenges amid the current growth of the nuclear sector" and will further develop its enabling approach to ensure it "regulates proportionately".

ONR Chief Executive and Chief Nuclear Inspector Mike Finnerty said: "Our discussions with the taskforce have been extremely productive. We will continue to work with the team, providing further requested regulatory expertise, to help inform the final report in a way that supports innovation.”

The taskforce's interim report comes after the Chancellor announced action to reduce the administrative cost of regulation by 25%. It also follows government action earlier this year to reform planning requirements and regulatory rules as part of measures to streamline the process of constructing new nuclear power plants in England and Wales, including small modular reactors. The reforms include allowing new plants to be built anywhere across England and Wales, not just in the eight existing nuclear sites specified in current planning rules.