Should Nuclear Fusion Reactors be a part of Nuclear Fission Reactor Regulatory Regime?

Nuclear energy generators and suppliers using the plank of climate change to promote nuclear energy as the solution and economies okaying such an approach. It looks like nuclear energy is here to stay and possible contribute significantly to the energy share of many countries. Given this fillip to nuclear energy, there is also bound to be increasing technological solutions in the sector. Two of them are noteworthy: one is the small and modular reactors which allow nuclear energy generation through smaller nuclear plants. Thes operate in a relatively smaller scale than conventional nuclear plants.

The other technological development in nuclear energy sector is fusion reactors. The core idea is that unlike in nuclear fission, where atom is split, in fusion, atoms are fused together. Both these processes release considerable energy. But with fusion, there seems to be a distinct advantage: it does not produce nuclear wastes like fission does. This is extremely important becuase one of the signficant problems with fission reactors is harmful radioactive waste and its disposal. The advantage of fusion reactors vis-a-vis fission and coal energy, as noted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is stated below: 

"Fusion could generate four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission (used in nuclear power plants) and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal."

It appears that in fusion reactors, the chances of major industrial accidents are also minimal, as the IAEA notes. 

Given these considerations several jurisdictions are adopting regulatory measures that are more liberalised as compared to the regulation of fission reactors, as this Financial Times article notes. For instance, in USA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission opted for a less onerous regime for regulating fusion reactors. Details of key consdierations for NRC to opt for the less burdensome regime can be accessed from here. 

However, it appears that it might take at a decade or two for fusion reactors to be used in an industrial scale like fission reactors.

The FT articles notes that developments in UK on this: it appears that UK might opt for regulation of fusion industry not by the nuclear energy regulator but by the Environment regulator! To provide clarity of the regulatory regime, the (UK) Energy Act, 2023 notes that the the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 would not apply to fusion reactors. Section 156 of the said law covers these aspects.

Earlier, in 2021, the European Union published a study on the regulation of fusion energy, which also proposed a separate regulatory regime for nuclear fusion.

It would be interesting to see how India plans to regulate nuclear fusion.