The final report of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce, announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in February, says the UK has not delivered nuclear projects to time and cost in recent years. “Projects have struggled to secure financing, and several collapsed early in development. Those that have proceeded are over budget and over schedule. Urgent change is needed if we are to capitalise on the opportunities nuclear technology can provide.”
The taskforce, led by John Fingleton, former CEO of the Office of Fair Trading, was setup to consider reform of the civil and defence nuclear framework and regulations. It seeks to speed up the approval of new reactor designs and streamline how developers engage with regulators. An interim report was issued in August.
The 162-page final report says nuclear technology is essential to the UK’s future. “Nuclear technology must be delivered safely, efficiently, and at pace, if it is to attain energy security, achieve net zero targets, drive economic growth, value for the taxpayer, improve living standards, and safeguard sovereign defence capabilities.”
The report note that the UK nuclear sector has an excellent safety record overseen by expert and independent regulators. The majority of organisations consulted have emphasised the high level of credibility and trust in UK regulators nationally and internationally. This is important to the nuclear sector’s ‘social licence’ to operate and public confidence in the use of nuclear technology.
“There is no intent to weaken nuclear safety. This review addresses the underlying causes of over-complexity, duplication, and regulatory waste. We expect safety to improve by making processes simpler, more transparent, and by focusing resources where they have the greatest impact.”
The final report says a “radical reset” is needed and outlines 47 recommendations for the government to speed up building new nuclear projects at a lower cost and on time. “The United Kingdom’s nuclear sector is at a critical juncture. The safe and efficient delivery of nuclear technology is essential for achieving national security, energy security, and Net Zero targets. However, the current regulatory and delivery model is failing. A comprehensive reform of the regulatory framework is a matter of strategic national importance.”
The UK was historically a global pioneer in nuclear energy. It was the first country to produce commercial power from a nuclear source and a leader in nuclear defence. “Today, it has become the most expensive place in the world to build nuclear projects. Both civil and defence programmes suffer from large cost overruns and schedule delays. Regulation is central to this relative decline. The increasing complexity and risk aversion of our regulatory system has contributed to a weakening of the UK’s leadership and competitiveness.”
Revitalising the UK’s nuclear enterprise is a national priority for several reasons:
Energy Security and Net Zero: Nuclear power is vital for meeting the UK’s 2050 Net Zero commitment and accommodating a projected doubling of electricity demand. It provides a secure, low-carbon energy source and complements renewable technologies making them more sustainable.
Economic Growth: A functional nuclear sector supports high-paying jobs and is a critical enabler for future industries, such as the expansion of AI-capable data centres, which will place significant new demands on the national grid. Lower energy prices will drive productivity and growth.
National Defence: The Continuous at Sea Deterrent (CASD) is a bedrock of the UK’s defence strategy. The effective delivery of this capability is dependent on a high-performing national nuclear enterprise.
The primary barrier to achieving these national goals is a systemic failure within the regulatory framework. The report presents a blueprint for its comprehensive reform.
Systemic regulatory failure is a problem that cannot be attributed to any single entity. “The issues span regulators, government, and industry, creating a cycle of inefficiency, delay, and excessive cost. This is deeply rooted and embedded in the sector’s culture. Interconnected failures feed on each other, acting as bottlenecks that prevent the effective delivery of critical nuclear projects.”
The five primary regulatory problems are:
- Fragmented Oversight: A single project faces multiple regulators, sometimes as many as eight in defence, with no single designated lead. This results in misalignment, inconsistency, and delay.
- Disproportionate Decisions: Regulators frequently make overly conservative and costly decisions that are not proportionate to the actual risk being managed.
- Flawed Legislation: Underlying laws and regulations prioritise process over outcomes, leading to time-consuming delays and suboptimal decisions.
- Government Indecision: Government departments are often slow and indecisive in their roles as policymakers and regulators, failing to provide clear direction.
- Weak Industry Incentives: The near-monopolistic status of much of the industry provides weak financial incentives to reduce costs or challenge disproportionate regulatory decisions.
According to the report, these issues have cultivated a deeply ingrained culture of complacency and extreme risk aversion across the sector. “This ‘status quo mindset’ perpetuates the cycle of inefficiency and is a fundamental barrier to progress and delivery. Addressing this systemic failure requires a series of radical, root-cause solutions that fundamentally reshape the regulatory landscape.”
The Taskforce’s recommendations provide a coherent blueprint for a ‘radical reset’ of the UK’s nuclear regulatory system. The proposals are structured as a direct response to the systemic failures identified, offering a clear path from diagnosis to cure.
Responding to fragmented oversight is a complex and multifaceted problem, requiring coordinated action to drive change at all levels in the system. “We recommend that the Prime Minister issues a Strategic Steer to government departments, regulators and duty-holders, setting out immediate government priorities and expectations for how the sector should accelerate delivery.” Structural reform is essential to counter the paralysing effects of fragmented and duplicative oversight. “We recommend establishing a single, unified decision-making body, a Commission on Nuclear Regulation, to act as a final one-stop arbiter on all major nuclear regulatory decisions.”
As an immediate interim measure, a formal lead regulator model should be established, with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) as the default. The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) should be merged with the ONR to reduce duplication, improve resource allocation, and enhance technical capability. “Finally, we recommend that safety case development be returned to its original purpose as a document for duty-holders’ use, not a paper exercise for regulatory approval.”
Responding to disproportionate decisions and to correct the overly conservative, process-driven culture, the Government, not individual regulators, must define the national standard for the tolerability of risk. This will provide a clear policy benchmark for applying the ‘As Low As Reasonably Practicable’ (ALARP) principle proportionately. Major reforms to environmental assessments are also required to shift the focus from process to outcomes. This includes creating an alternative compliance pathway for the Habitats Regulations to avoid lengthy and inefficient site-specific mitigation studies that produce disproportionate outcomes.
Changing the nuclear industry’s culture and embracing innovation is fundamental, requiring decisive action at all levels. “We recommend that boards re-align their organisation’s cultural values to focus behaviours on delivering faster and more economical outcomes while maintaining safety. To embed cultural change as the nuclear sector grows, we recommend that the Nuclear Skills Delivery Board accelerate its efforts, focussing on non-technical as well as technical skills. The nuclear sector can be slow to embrace change, but to achieve a radical reset it must maximise the take up of digital technologies including AI as a tool for safety experts, modernising approaches to whole-life safety and regulation.”
Several changes are required to remove legislative and policy bottlenecks and accelerate project delivery. The planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) must be streamlined to avoid excessive and duplicative project-by-project analysis. The full breadth of national policy must recognise the ‘Critical National Priority’ status of nuclear technology and enable an efficient fleet-based approach.
Outdated policies that restrict site selection must be reformed, specifically by revising the Semi-Urban Population Density Criteria (SUPDC) and default emergency planning zones to reflect modern reactor safety. Finally, the duplicative ‘Justification’ process for new Light-Water Reactors must be eliminated, as its purpose is already served by other, more effective regulatory stages.
The report says these structural reforms are necessary but not sufficient. Their success is contingent on a fundamental cultural shift across government, industry, and regulators—moving from rigid process-adherence to a focus on delivering safe, timely, and cost-effective outcomes for the nation.
“These reforms are designed to be radical but measured, addressing the root causes of systemic failure. By simplifying structures, restoring proportionality, and modernising processes, the UK can overcome its current challenges. This will allow the nation to reclaim its position as a global leader and capitalise on the worldwide nuclear renaissance, ensuring a secure and prosperous future.” They are to be implemented in the coming two years.
Taskforce Chairman John Fingleton said: “This is a once in a generation opportunity. The problems are systemic, rooted in unnecessary complexity, and a mindset that favours process over outcome. Our solutions are radical, but necessary. By simplifying regulation, we can maintain or enhance safety standards while finally delivering nuclear capacity safely, quickly, and affordably.”
The taskforce assesses that reforms could lead to:
- faster delivery of reliable low-carbon power to electrify the economy and meet net zero commitments;
- a quicker and cheaper renewal of the nuclear deterrent including the Dreadnought programme and AUKUS submarines;
- savings of tens of billions from the current £150bn ($196bn) projected cost of decommissioning legacy nuclear activities;
- lower energy costs for consumers, industry, and public services;
- near-term boost to investment into the UK and economic growth and productivity.
Mike Finnerty, ONR CEO and Chief Nuclear Inspector, said: “We have worked closely with the Taskforce to help shape the future of UK nuclear regulation, recognising the expansion, growth and technological advancements happening across the sector. The Taskforce work has informed the development of our new strategy, which will be published for public consultation next month.… ONR is ready to implement recommendations that remove any unnecessary burden from the regulatory framework, while maintaining rigorous safety standards.”
