The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce has published its final report, calling for a reset of overly complex nuclear regulations.
The independent taskforce, commissioned by the prime minister, has made 47 recommendations for government to speed up delivery, reduce costs and strengthen safety.
Overly complex regulation in the UK has contributed to the 鈥渞elative decline鈥� in the UK鈥檚 global leadership position in nuclear, the taskforce says.
The 162-page review is titled .
Recommendations include establishing a 鈥榦ne-stop shop鈥� for nuclear decisions and streamlining regulation to remove duplication and improve proportionality to avoid overly bureaucratic, costly processes while improving safety standards. The report estimates that its proposed reforms could save tens of billions in nuclear decommissioning costs alone, as well as cutting energy costs for consumers and driving more investment into the UK.
Among its findings directly relating to construction, it says that recent nuclear projects have been expensive and behind schedule partly because of 鈥渦nnecessary over-specialisation for solutions, ranging from simple components like bolts to complex structures such as cranes, where commercial-off-the-shelf items could have been used instead鈥�.
It adds: 鈥淭his over-specialisation subsequently leads to designs which are expensive and difficult to operate and maintain.鈥�
The taskforce was led by John Fingleton, an economist and former chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading. He said: 鈥淭his is a once in a generation opportunity. The problems are systemic, rooted in unnecessary complexity, and a mindset that favours process over outcome.
鈥淥ur solutions are radical, but necessary. By simplifying regulation, we can maintain or enhance safety standards while finally delivering nuclear capacity safely, quickly, and affordably.鈥�
The taskforce鈥檚 47 recommendations include five basic propositions:
- stronger political leadership, including the government providing a robust strategic direction for the civil and defence nuclear sectors
- establishing a Commission for Nuclear Regulation to be a unified decision maker across all regulators, planners and approval bodies
- clarifying risk tolerability and proportionality, bringing Britain into line with the rest of the world
- merging the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator into the Office for Nuclear Regulation
- avoiding regulation that prioritises bureaucracy over safe outcomes 鈥� such as reforming environmental and planning regimes to enhance nature and deliver projects quicker.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: 鈥淭his report presents an unprecedented opportunity to make nuclear regulation more coherent, transparent and efficient, in turn making projects faster and less expensive to deliver. Too often, costly and bureaucratic processes have stood in the way of our energy security, the fight against the climate crisis, and protecting the natural environment, to which nuclear is essential. Our standards of regulation are world renowned, but our processes have sometimes developed in a piecemeal way. The UK鈥檚 nuclear sector has a strong safety record, and these recommendations will ensure that continues to be the case while addressing duplication, contradiction and excess complexity.
鈥淲e are grateful to the government for commissioning John Fingleton to lead this review, for the timely way in which they have undertaken their work and we urge the adoption of the taskforce recommendations as soon as possible. We also recognise the industry鈥檚 responsibility to play our part in ensuring nuclear regulation maintains public confidence whilst not hindering delivery.鈥�
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