The Fusion Framework: Foundational, Not Final

The proposed framework for fusion machines is a foundational rule that will establish how an entirely new class of facilities is licensed in the United States. Section 205 of the ADVANCE Act called for the inclusion of fusion machines within the NRC’s regulatory regime. While most of this implementation will happen at the state level, NRC guidance and its coordination with Agreement States will set the trends that shape the entire nascent field of fusion reactors.

BTI's comment supports the NRC's central design choice, routing near-term fusion machine licensing through the Part 30 byproduct material framework rather than the Part 50 utilization facility framework. It is a technology-inclusive and proportional choice for the hazard profiles of near-term machines. The comment also identifies several issues the agency should resolve before finalization. Tritium accountability built around fixed inventory thresholds is a poor fit for a fuel cycle in which tritium is bred, burned, permeated into structural materials, and continuously recirculated; the interim waste-disposal pathway is being proposed ahead of the Part 61 rulemaking, which could have implications for both fission and fusion reactors; and the rule's general silence on safeguards leaves a gap for a technology with significant proliferation potential. The fusion rule additionally makes emergency plans optional below 1 rem (10 mSv), a significant deviation from the proposed Part 57 fission rulemaking; BTI suggests that even a simple emergency plan would be the more consistent solution.

The stakes here are largely about sequencing. Because the fusion rule will be finalized after several related EO 14300 rulemakings, it will inherit much of the regulatory architecture set in the interim rather than establish it. Getting the fusion framework right, and reconciling it with the byproduct material, Part 61, and Part 20 rules, is essential to ensuring that fusion regulation is coherent, durable, and ready for a technology whose commercial form is still taking shape.