U.K. energy bill proposes changes to waste transport regulation

A bill introduced in the U.K. Parliament on November 4 includes a provision that potentially would streamline the government's process for updating rules regarding the transportation of used fuel and radioactive waste.

Contained within the Energy Independence Bill are measures that would affect several sectors of the United Kingdom's energy system in what would amount to a major overhaul. Among the proposals that the legislation calls for are measures to accelerate the deployment of what it identifies as "clean energy" projects, including offshore wind and smart grid projects; support for insulating and otherwise updating residential buildings under the Warm Homes Plan; and an end to licenses for new oil and natural gas exploration.

The bill also proposes a measure that would confer authority to make provisions for the import, export, or general transit of used fuel and radioactive waste onto the secretary or minister leading the government department responsible for nuclear energy-currently the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. That official would be allowed to prohibit, restrict, or implement requirements for any such transport.

In one of several fact sheets released to explain the Energy Independence Bill, the U.K. government stated that it has "no primary powers" to update regulations covering the transport of radioactive materials. This has resulted in inconsistencies; for example, the country's regulations currently treat the transport of naturally occurring radioactive material differently from other types of radioactive material, though regulations from several of the country's trading partners do not.

The Energy Independence Bill presumably would allow the secretary or minister overseeing nuclear energy efforts to make changes without approval from Parliament or other rulemaking bodies, though the legislation states that the secretary or minister must confer with the ministers of Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland's Department for Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs before issuing regulations.

The bill is currently in its second reading in the House of Commons, after which it will proceed to a committee for review.

U.K. nuclear energy updates: The provision to update rulemaking procedures comes as the United Kingdom continues a revision of its nuclear regulatory framework that began in 2025.

In February of that year, then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer assembled the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce to propose ways to improve and expedite the deployment of new nuclear technology. The taskforce published a report in November 2025 that criticized a network of "overlapping systems and multiple regulators" as making processes complex and burdensome.

Currently, the Office for Nuclear Regulation is the government agency that primarily regulates nuclear energy activity in the United Kingdom. It does so through licensing, inspections, and enforcement of rules. However, other agencies also have authority over radioactive waste in the country. These include the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, the Environmental Agency, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, and Natural Resources Wales.

In March 2026, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero responded to the taskforce report with a policy paper entitled "Building Our Nuclear Nation: Government Response to the Nuclear Regulatory Review 2025." In it, the department agreed that streamlining processes should be a priority and proposed reforms, including merging the ONR and the DNSR and establishing a new commission for nuclear regulation. Michael Finnerty, the ONR's chief executive and chief nuclear inspector, replied to the policy paper in September with support for its conclusions.

Why regulate transport? The Energy Independence Bill's provision for regulating transport of used fuel and radioactive waste might seem related more to the country's nuclear energy efforts than to the bill's other measures.

However, the fact sheet explaining this part of the legislation identifies the United Kingdom's oil and natural gas industries as its largest producers of naturally occurring radioactive material. Including a provision to more effectively regulate the transport of radioactive material would facilitate the eventual decommissioning of offshore oil and gas projects that the bill supports elsewhere.

According to the fact sheet, "It is a long-standing policy position of the United Kingdom that, in general, radioactive waste should neither be imported or exported. However, there are instances where the sending waste abroad for treatment, or receiving it into the United Kingdom, can represent the most economic and best environmental option . . . and an effective regulatory framework ensures this."