Essay by Eric Worrall
Apparently all you need to do to ensure “the creation of highly skilled jobs and driving growth into our industrial heartlands” is to create planning guidelines for nuclear fusion plants.
Nuclear fusion boost as government sets to unblock planning rules
Government confirms the UK will be the first country in the world to develop fusion-specific planning rules. From:Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP Published 17 July 2025
- Government backs innovation and growth with plan to develop National Policy Statement to unblock fusion projects
- forms part of golden age of nuclear plans through the government’s clean energy superpower mission
- UK will become the first country in the world to develop fusion-specific planning rules – helping support thousands of skilled jobs as part of the Plan for Change
New clean energy jobs and growth for British businesses are set to be unlocked as the government confirms the UK will be the first country in the world to develop fusion-specific planning rules.
The plans will see fusion introduced into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, putting fusion energy projects on the same footing as other clean energy technologies such as solar, onshore wind and nuclear.
This will drive growth and unlock benefits for places such as Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire and South Yorkshire where the fusion industry is already supporting thousands of jobs – revitalising industrial heartlands with the clean energy of the future.
Currently, fusion projects must submit an application to the local authority with no set timelines for approval and no guidance on which sites are appropriate – hindering the technology’s development in the UK.
The introduction of a National Policy Statement will provide clarity to developers and streamline the planning process for fusion, giving applicants clearer guidance on where and how quickly projects can be developed. This will give industry certainty, break down regulatory barriers and get projects built quicker to cement the UK’s position at the forefront of the global race for fusion.
The Spending Review also delivered a commitment to invest over £2.5 billion in fusion research and development. This includes progressing with the STEPprogramme (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) which aims to develop and build a world-leading fusion power plant by 2040 in Nottinghamshire, creating thousands of new jobs with the potential to unlock limitless clean power.
A thriving fusion industry in the UK will support the growth of other technologies, including superconductors, robotics and advanced materials, which in turn will provide highly-skilled jobs for British scientists, engineers and construction workers as part of the Plan for Change.
The government’s clean energy mission is the only route to energy security, lower bills and good jobs for the country, and by setting out clearer planning rules for investors, the UK will maintain its optimum position for fusion industry investment.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said:
The future of fusion energy starts now. We are backing the builders not the blockers – paving the way for the UK to become a clean energy superpower and ensuring that limitless fusion energy plays a key role in our future clean energy mix.
We are ensuring the clean energy of the future gets built in Britain, supporting the creation of highly skilled jobs and driving growth into our industrial heartlands as part of our Plan for Change.
This clarity for investors follows a major backing of £61.9 billion for clean homegrown power in the Spending Review, in which a golden age of nuclear was confirmed with the selection of Rolls-Royce SMR as the preferred bidder to build the UK’s first small modular reactors and £14.2 billion investment to build Sizewell C.
Developing the fusion NPS will also help fusion energy projects move faster along the process from identifying sites to the start of construction.
This follows the government’s £20 million investment into the ‘Starmaker One’ British fusion investment fund which is expected to unlock £100 million of private investment in the UK – driving economic growth.
Tim Bestwick, CEO, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), said:
The inclusion of fusion energy in the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime is a clear indication of the government’s support for fusion.
Fusion promises to be a safe, sustainable part of the world’s future energy supply and the UK has a huge opportunity to become a global hub of fusion and related technology.
Fusion-specific planning rules will help provide certainty about investing in UK fusion developments, and strengthen the UK’s position as a leader in the quest to commercialise fusion energy.
Notes to editors
The government plans to consult on a detailed National Policy Statement for fusion energy by March 2026.
Consultation response on Scope of Fusion Energy National Policy Statement
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuclear-fusion-boost-as-government-sets-to-unblock-planning-rules
This appears to continue the fantasy initiated by the previous Tory government, a campaign to convince voters that construction of the nuclear fusion plants which were going to revive Britain’s industrial heartlands was already happening.
I hope this nuclear fusion is now campaign is the product of ignorance, or perhaps some over enthusiastic science advisors. Because if it isn’t ignorance, if British politicians are aware of how unlikely it is that operational nuclear fusion plants will be bringing down prices and reviving British industry in the next few decades, this would be one of the most cynical political deceptions I’ve ever had the misfortune to report.
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Mad Ed just says ‘simsalabim’ while weaving his magic wand and bingo! there’s a fusion plant.
“ this would be one of the most cynical political deceptions I’ve ever had the misfortune to report.” I think that the idea that political parties are an essential part of democratic fabric and that democracy would fall apart without them is more cynical, destructive and self-serving. Indeed, how else could idiots like Milliband rise to such power?
Which democracy had persistent (otherwise there’s no place for hypotheses, it either did or did not fall apart) political parties?
All modern democracies are dominated by political parties and they are all falling apart. Call it failing or fracturing if you prefer but however you cut it political parties are the problem.
Ah. I see the confusion. It’s a homonym. There’s Greek “democracy” which is derived from “δῆμος”, and “democracy™” (“modern democracy”, or in certain circles “Our Democracy”) which is derived from “demo-version”.
The former refers to a power structure based on natural human organization
of extended family connections and tribe (proved stable and relatively hard to
game, but poor at scalability). The latter is a brand name, in the classic categorization of power structures it falls under theocratic oligarchy.
I see this as the beginning of a face saving campaign, even Miliband must admit that wind and solar can not operate the national grid. They can’t just turn to nuclear fission because they have already invested so much in vilifying nuclear. So they will support nuclear in another way by backing yet another unproven process. I’m sure they think having to fall back on nuclear fission from nuclear fusion will be a bigger face saver than going to fission and leaving wind and solar in the dust. Either way their only options are fossil fuel and nuclear the way we have been using it for decades. The whole message is a stinking lie but I see it as a first feeble signal away from wind and solar as primary electricity generators.
Have they streamlined the regulations for unicorn herds yet?
Now, let’s not be nasty. Practical fusion power is within 10 (optimistically) to 20 years, it was so for… what, almost 70 years by now? Even comrade Lysenko did not promise unicorn herds in 10-20 years.
I’m sure that nowadays they could be genetically engineered, perhaps from zebras and narwhals?
But there are no grants for unicorn R&D. And even if there were, would they be very lucrative? Biologists loyal to the circus already have tried and proven paths: being in bed with Monsanto, Big Pharma or bioweapon programs. They don’t need something as fleeting as Nasruddin’s talking donkey project.
Granted, most fusion research is a boondoggle, but Helion is much closer than people realize, they should be producing electric power within the year and their design could compete with existing LWRs economically because it doesn’t require turbines.
They are under contract for power delivery in 2028. Work on the plant has already begun.
The rest and best of the plan – soon to be revealed – is to use nuclear fusion to power space elevators to build and maintain pv solar arrays in orbit round the Earth, using microwaves to beam electricity to receivers on the surface so we can have “secure”, abundant “free”, “clean” energy for everyone, forever – in saecula saeculorum Amen.
Speaking of beams: Beam me up Scotty before I go nuts.
In the above article’s quotes:
“Government confirms the UK will be the first country in the world to develop fusion-specific planning rules.”
I find that statement as fascinating as it is idiotic.
Mankind currently has NO realistic concept/technology for how to produce commercial-scale electricity or thermal power from nuclear fusion at a price anywhere competitive to that from existing fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, petroleum) or even the higher per-kWh-levelized-cost of existing “renewables” (wind, solar, and—likely—new hydropower).
Therefore, “planning” for “developing” fusion-originated power is equivalent to writing a science fiction story absent any science.
But perhaps certain UK bureaucrats/politicians are still enamoured with the concept of “5-year planning” as implemented by the former Soviet Union and currently by the CCP of China?
/sarc