Overhaul of safety and environment rules will make UK ‘nuclear nation’ - Starmer

SIR KEIR Starmer has said a regulatory overhaul for British civil and defence nuclear projects will help the UK “reclaim its place as a leading nuclear nation”.

Introducing his government’s response to a report last year that charged the UK of being the “most expensive country in the world” to develop nuclear projects, Starmer pledged to reform safety and environmental regulations he said were “too cautious and too slow”. He aims to have completed all reforms by the end of 2027.

The government’s response to the 47 recommendations in last year’s report focuses on making regulation more “proportionate”, arguing that existing health and safety law is excessively risk averse. The government said it will give the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) new powers to consider national security, climate and economic growth so it can balance the societal benefits of projects against the risks. 

Guidelines around maximum radiation dose for the public from nuclear sites, for example, are “overly conservative”, the government said. 

The government plans to merge the ONR with the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator and introduce a Nuclear Commission to arbitrate between relevant bodies – such as the ONR, Natural England and the Environment Agency – where there are conflicting views on project approvals. It has also pledged to increase pay for specialist roles at regulatory bodies, acknowledging that salaries have “not kept pace with the level of technical skill required”. 

Environmental permitting will also fall under the scope of the government’s reforms, with plans to encourage developers not to include hypothetical or speculative risks to habitats when assessing risks. Additionally, the Environment Agency will be given greater discretionary powers over which activities will not require a permit. “Low risk” construction activities will no longer require environmental permits. 

Starmer said “the way we protect nature has deteriorated into an adversarial system that sees building and nature as a zero-sum competition”, and that “we can build power stations quickly and it need not threaten our glorious national inheritance”. However, Joan Edwards, policy and public affairs director at The Wildlife Trusts, called the government’s latest nuclear proposals “dangerous tinkering with vital environmental protections”. 

Nuclear Industry Association chief executive Tom Greatrex welcomed the proposals, saying they were “the most important thing we can do to cut deployment times and costs”. Adrian Bull, president of the Nuclear Institute, said: “The proposed reforms rightly recognise that a more effective and proportionate and risk-based regulatory system depends on trusting the competence, professionalism and judgement of experienced nuclear practitioners.”

‘Golden age of nuclear’

Since coming to power in 2024, Starmer’s Labour government has made clear its ambition to usher in a “golden age of nuclear”. Last year, the government committed £11.5bn (US$15.3bn) to the new Sizewell C reactor, announced £2.5bn plans to build small modular reactors in North Wales and signed a bilateral deal with the US with the aim of speeding up reactor approval.

The latest proposals follow publication in February of a new framework that set out possible measures to offer financial support to private developers of advanced nuclear technology, covering small and micro modular reactors as well as reactors using novel coolants. 

The government also plans to introduce legislation to make lifetime extension projects for ageing reactors eligible for revenue support through the contracts for difference scheme currently only offered to renewable energy generators.