Science minister George Freeman has launched a Fusion Green Paper which outlines how the government plans to legislate the deployment of fusion energy.

The government claims that the move makes the UK the first country in the world to detail its legal approach to the technology.

It said that, due to the expected low hazard of fusion power, it is proposing the continuation of a proportionate ‘non-nuclear’ regulatory approach.

A Fusion Strategy published alongside the green paper sets out how the UK will use its leadership in fusion to commercialise the technology.

Fusion energy research aims to capture the same energy process that powers the sun and forms part of the government’s long-term plans to harness new technologies to build a home-grown energy sector that “reduces reliance on fossil fuels and exposure to volatile global gas prices.”

A fusion power plant would combine hydrogen atoms to generate energy without producing the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

“This is the first time the UK government has ever published a strategy for fusion, which exemplifies the importance of fusion in its plans,” said professor Ian Chapman, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority chief executive. “The fact that it is also consulting on how fusion power plants will be regulated in the future also shows the high-level support and progressive approach to enabling fusion to happen here in the UK.”

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