US takes step to solidify rules on nuclear fusion energy

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Fusion energy, an emerging technology that backers hope will one day generate electricity without producing long-lived radioactive waste, got a path toward regulation on Thursday as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a draft rule.

Companies and physicists at laboratories around the world have been trying for decades to use lasers or large magnets to foster continuous nuclear fusion reactions, in which light atoms are forced together to release huge amounts of energy.

Fusion energy industry leaders met with U.S. Department of Energy officials last December to urge them to fund billions of dollars for projects seeking to generate electricity by the process that powers the sun.

Days later, President Donald Trump's social media company said it was getting into the fusion business through a $6 billion merger with Google-backed TAE Technologies.

Thursday's proposed framework concerns issues including the possession, use and production of byproduct materials associated with fusion, including a radionuclide known as tritium.

The NRC said fusion machines can produce tritium, neutrons, and neutron activation products "that need to be properly contained to protect public health and safety."

In 2023, the NRC voted to regulate fusion under a less stringent framework than the fission technology used in current nuclear power plants, which generates radioactive nuclear waste lacking a place for permanent storage and is now held at atomic plants across the country.

The Fusion Industry Association said the NRC's move on Thursday was a step toward clear regulations and it was reviewing the draft.

Fusion backers want to generate power for the grid in the 2030s, but the technology faces hurdles. Brief fusion reactions that physicists have achieved so far would need to occur continuously and over the long term in order to generate reliable electricity.

Fusion companies also need to develop materials and plants that can withstand continuous neutron bombardments over the long term.

The NRC will accept comments on the proposed rule through May 27.