Nuclear fusion reactors to be fast-tracked and taxpayer funded
PIONEERING nuclear fusion power plants are to be fast-tracked through the planning process and supported with taxpayer money as Britain attempts to become a world leader in the technology.
Under proposals by the Government, commercial fusion reactors will be exempt from the usual planning rules governing nuclear power stations.
One of the major changes will be to class nuclear fusion reactors as nationally significant infrastructure projects, with ministers deciding if they should go ahead and preventing local authorities from scrutinising them.
It means companies planning fusion reactors can avoid the years of red tape blocking current nuclear power stations. A spokesman for the Energy Department said: “Fusion will not be subject to a nuclear site licence process in the same way as nuclear fission facilities due to the fundamental differences in technology, process and levels of hazard.”
It came as Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, kicked off a competition for UK engineering firms to design and build a publicly owned reactor on a disused power station site at West Burton in Nottinghamshire.
The Government wants to award contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds by next year to build a prototype at West Burton.
The Energy Department said in a consultation: “Private industry is planning to build commercial facilities in the 2030s, which requires siting and construction to start this decade. Companies are already starting to identify potential sites for these facilities.
“The benefits of fusion energy for the UK not only include the potential for a low carbon and reliable base load energy source for the future but the potential to deliver economic and social benefits through the creation of jobs, attracting investment into the UK and the development of high-value skills.”
The UK was part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, project to build an experimental reactor in southern France.
However, it was thrown out of the European Atomic Energy Community, or Euratom, as part of Brexit.