The UK parliament’s energy security and net zero committee (ESNZ) has advised the government to sharpen its policy on fusion energy to address non-proliferation concerns and ensure thorough early public engagement is made.

The committee, which assesses policy and spending from the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said in a report that the government’s recent national policy statement (NPS), which laid out a clear path for the strategic development of fusion energy, missed several key points.

National policy statements are issued by the government to set out its policy for nationally significant infrastructure projects.

The committee recommended that an updated version of the NPS for fusion, expected in 2031, includes the issue of proliferation as research reactors graduate to larger, commercial-scale reactors expected in the next decade.