Government begins consultation on new national policy for nuclear energy generation (EN-7)

On 6 February 2025 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched  a consultation on a new draft national policy statement (“NPS”) for nuclear energy generation (“EN-7”). The government intends for the new policy to be formally designated later this year. Once designated it will provide (alongside the Overarching NPS for Energy (“EN-1”)), the primary policy for decisions taken by the Secretary of State on applications for Development Consent relating to infrastructure using nuclear fission to generate energy.

 This article discusses the three most significant policy innovations which are proposed.

Novel nuclear technologies: Small and Advanced Modular Reactors 

EN-7 will be the first national planning policy which will have been designed specifically to accommodate nuclear generation technologies other than traditional gigawatt scale nuclear power plants. More specifically, EN7 will also apply to small modular reactors (“SMR”) and advanced modular reactors (“AMR”). SMRs are smaller versions of traditional light water reactors, whilst AMRs are characterised by their use of novel fuels and cooling systems. This is a major departure from previous policy approaches and is intended to allow for nuclear power developments to be deployed in locations and applications for which large scale nuclear fission plants are not suitable. This will increase the contribution which nuclear fission as a whole can make to providing low carbon electricity in the future. 

A new approach to locating nuclear generation

The current NPS for nuclear power generation (“EN-6”) designated 8 locations which were considered potentially suitable for the deployment of gigawatt scale nuclear power generation where developers could apply for consent to construct a nuclear power station. These locations were selected after the government carried out its own extensive strategic site assessment over a period of 3 years before the EN-6 was designated in 2011. 

EN-7 will mark a dramatic departure from this model and will enable developers to identify and promote sites for the deployment of nuclear generation themselves based on EN-7 siting criteria. The siting criteria are substantively in continuity with the criteria which underpinned the government’s EN-6 strategic sitting assessment and include population density thresholds, proximity to military activity, flood risk and the need to preserve biological and geological diversity. The criteria will be part of the basis of the assessment of applications for development consent and will enable applicants to assess and exclude unsuitable locations as well as to identify sites which are optimal for the kind of technology involved. 

An open-ended policy: the removal of time limits

EN-6 was designated in 2011 and only applied to sites which were capable of deployment by the end of 2025. The rationale for this approach was that the relatively short deadline would expedite the delivery of new projects which would rapidly contribute the transition to a lower carbon energy mix. However, of the 8 sites designated as potentially suitable for the development of new nuclear plants by the end of 2025, construction is only underway at 1 site: Hinkley Point in Somerset. EN-7 will therefore have no fixed deadline and will continue to apply until it is withdrawn. This flexible approach received significant support from responders to the consultation on proposed approach to siting new nuclear power stations beyond 2025 which ran from January to March 2024. The removal of a deadline provides certainty to the market that this policy approach will be in place for the long term, which is especially important as prospective developers will need to undertake the site selection process themselves if they wish to apply for development consent for a project on a site not designated by EN-6. 

Conclusion 

EN-7 is set to dramatically reform the policy landscape in relation to new nuclear energy facility consenting and is a key part of the Governments agenda of ‘ripping up the rules’ (Press release, 6 February 2025) to accelerate the delivery of new nuclear energy. The consultation on draft EN-7 runs until 3 April 2025. 

If you have any questions or would otherwise like to discuss any issue raised in this article, please contact Patrick Robinson or Alex Minhinick.