New draft National Policy Statement for Fusion published for consultation

On 8 June 2026 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published for consultation a draft of the National Policy Statement for Fusion Energy Generation (EN-8). We highlight here some of the most significant points in this highly anticipated draft policy. 

Critical national priority for nationally significant fusion energy infrastructure 

The existing overarching national policy statement for energy infrastructure projects (EN-1) establishes in policy that there is a Critical National Priority for the provision of nationally significant low carbon energy infrastructure (“CNP infrastructure”). CNP infrastructure benefits from a policy presumption that (subject to any legal requirements of the Planning Act 2008), it is likely that the urgent need for CNP infrastructure will outweigh any other residual impacts  of the project which are not capable of being addressed by applying the ‘mitigation hierarchy’, in all but the most exceptional circumstances. 

The draft EN-8 would extend CNP infrastructure status to fusion energy infrastructure which meets the generation thresholds to be considered a nationally significant infrastructure project contained in the Planning Act 2008 (currently above 50MW in England and 350MW generation in Wales), or which the Secretary of State has accepted as a project for which development consent is required. Therefore, the government is proposing that nationally significant fusion energy infrastructure should also benefit for the presumption that the need for such projects will outweigh any residual impacts after mitigation has been applied in all but the most exceptional circumstances. 

The existing thresholds in the Planning Act 2008 are high given the energy generation capabilities of current fusion energy technology. However the draft EN-8 confirms that “fusion research facilities and small-scale demonstrator fusion infrastructure are considered important precursors to larger scale development, and are some of the types of projects the Secretary of State would expect to consider directing into the nationally significant infrastructure project development consent regime if such a request were made.”

Relationship between regulatory regimes for fusion energy infrastructure and the nationally significant infrastructure project development consent regime

Nationally significant fusion energy infrastructure will be required to obtain a range of permits, consents and licenses in addition to development consent in order to be constructed, operated and ultimately decommissioned. The draft EN-8 adopts the approach taken to other energy generation technology types in establishing the relationship between these other regulatory requirements and development consent. Applicants for development consent for fusion energy projects will be expected to progress relevant regulatory processes alongside their development consent application and to be confident that these regulatory permits will be obtained, however they will not need to be in place before development consent is granted. The draft of EN-8 is clear that the Secretary of State should be assume those regulatory regimes will operate effectively, and should not refuse development consent to a project unless they have good reason to believe a relevant regulatory consent, permit or licence is unlikely to be granted. 

Phased developments and developments with multiple fusion devices 

The draft of EN-8 provides that developers wishing to deploy fusion devices in multiple phases may apply for a single development consent order (“DCO”) which would permit each phase of operation as their intentions develop over time. The draft indicates this would include the ability to phase the use of compulsory acquisition powers to support subsequent phases of development. This is approach is subject to the restriction that each phase individually must be fully compliant with national policy as well as the overarching development, which would require the benefits of each phase to be explained and the environmental impacts of each phase to be mitigated. 

This is a novel approach not found in the other national policy statements applying to other technology types, where development consent permits a project to be constructed and then operated in a fixed manner until it is decommissioned.

Socio-economic benefits and co-location of fusion energy

The expected socio-economic benefit of fusion energy is a very important reason for the level of government support demonstrated for this emerging technology. The draft EN-8 notes that co-location with other sectors may maximize the wider socio-economic benefits of fusion energy, as well as support efficient land use. Therefore, the draft EN-8 includes a requirement for developers to explain how they have sought to identify and maximise socioeconomic benefits from co-location opportunities. This is another policy innovation in the draft. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this policy is that it clearly underscores the different approach to be taken with fusion energy compared to fission energy facilities on account of their different radiological risk profiles. The government had already confirmed in 2025 that no local population density restriction would apply to fusion energy infrastructure of the kind contained in the national policy statement for nuclear energy EN-7 for fission projects. This policy therefore implies the government aspires to capitalise on these differences to seek to embed fusion energy facilities in environments where there is mutual benefit from close proximity to other sectors and land uses. 

Next steps

Consultation will run on the draft EN-8 until 17 August, those wishing to respond can do so online here.  The final policy will be laid before Parliament for designation once that consultation exercise has complete and government has considered its response. 

Burges Salmon are leading subject-matter experts in nuclear and fusion law, if you have any questions or would like to discuss any issues raised in this article, please contact Alex Minhinick or Ian Truman.