From 2 December 2025, section 304 of the Energy Act 2023 will enter into force, following the Energy Act 2023 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2025 made on 6 November. The instrument creates a statutory route for certain installations for the disposal of nuclear matter to be excluded from the nuclear third‑party liability regime under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.
Section 304 amends the 1965 Act by inserting new sections 7C and 7D and by modifying section 7B. Under new section 7C, an operator may apply for a disposal site to be classed as an ‘excluded disposal site’ if the Secretary of State is satisfied that the permit condition, the site history condition and any further prescribed conditions are met, and issues a written notice to that effect.
The permit condition requires that an appropriate environmental permit is in force and that it contains a prohibition on receiving ‘disqualifying matter’. Disqualifying matter is defined by reference to radioactivity concentration limits in the Appendix to the 2016 Decision adopted by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency; the site history condition requires that such material has never been accepted, or that any previously accepted material has been removed. Exclusion also lapses if the appropriate permit is transferred and the new operator fails to notify and obtain consent within one month.
If disqualifying matter is accepted at an excluded disposal site, the operator must notify the Secretary of State within 21 days and remove the material within 90 days unless a longer period is specified. Failure to notify, or to complete removal within the relevant period, causes the site to lose its excluded status.
While a site is excluded it is not a ‘relevant disposal site’ for the purposes of section 7B of the 1965 Act. Section 304 also ensures that if exclusion ceases-because conditions are no longer met or consent is withdrawn-the operator is treated as coming back within the section 7B regime from the specified date. Section 7B is further amended so the date of the Secretary of State’s notice confirming excluded status is a defined marker for calculating the operator’s period of responsibility.
The definition of ‘appropriate permit’ is aligned across the UK’s jurisdictions. In Scotland it now means a permit under regulations made under section 18 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 authorising disposal of radioactive waste; in England and Wales it remains a permit under the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999; and in Northern Ireland it remains an authorisation under section 13 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993. To qualify for exclusion, the permit must include a condition preventing acceptance of disqualifying matter.
The UK’s nuclear third‑party liability framework places strict liability on operators and requires insurance or other financial security. The Nuclear Installations (Liability for Damage) Order 2016 implemented the 2004 Protocols to the Paris and Brussels Conventions, widening the categories of compensable damage and raising liability limits; government subsequently confirmed ratification took effect on 1 January 2022.
Commencement of these provisions has been staged. Section 304(3) came into force for specified purposes on 11 January 2024 under Commencement No. 1, enabling regulations to be made under the new section 7C. The wider commencement of sections 303 and 304 was then revoked by S.I. 2024/98, as recorded in Commencement No. 3; the 2025 instrument brings the remaining provisions into force.
For operators and insurers, the change clarifies when disposal facilities handling low‑activity waste can fall outside the specialised nuclear liability scheme, while environmental permitting and general civil law continue to apply. The practical effect is a defined application path to exclusion where the statutory conditions are satisfied and maintained.