UK nuclear strategy 'slow, costly' amid AI power surge, report warns
An independent taskforce, commissioned by the UK government, has issued a stark warning regarding the nation’s nuclear strategy, branding its current approach “unnecessarily slow, inefficient, and costly.” The interim report, led by former Office of Fair Trading chief John Fingleton, calls for a radical “once-in-a-generation reset” to regulatory frameworks that are perceived to be stifling progress and escalating expenses.
The taskforce, first announced in February and having concluded a comprehensive call for evidence from industry, academia, and regulators in May, delivered a scathing assessment. Fingleton described the prevailing nuclear regulatory environment in the UK as “not fit for purpose.” While acknowledging nuclear energy’s inherent safety, reliability, and its crucial role in achieving net-zero carbon goals and safeguarding the UK’s strategic deterrent, the report critically noted that “over recent decades, nuclear regulation has become more complex and costly without always delivering commensurate safety and environmental benefits.” Controversially, the report also linked the inefficiencies in civil nuclear regulation to increased costs within military applications, including the Trident nuclear missile programme.
Responding to the findings, Miatta Fahnbulleh, Minister for Energy Consumers, conceded that “big British infrastructure projects have been held back by needless bureaucracy for too long.” She expressed the government’s eagerness to collaborate with the expert taskforce to “modernise outdated regulations” and “unlock growth, jobs and energy security for the British people.” This acknowledgement comes as the UK seeks to bolster its energy independence and meet future power demands.
The urgency of this regulatory overhaul is underscored by a confluence of factors. Beyond the imperative for energy security and climate action, the burgeoning power requirements of large language models and artificial intelligence services are placing unprecedented strain on national grids. Industry players like AWS have explicitly stated Britain’s need for more nuclear power to sustain the surge in AI datacenter development, a sentiment echoed by Google, which has agreed to pause AI workloads during peak power demand, and the Tony Blair Institute, which advocates for significant data infrastructure to position the UK as an AI leader. While Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, in announcing a substantial £14.2 billion ($19.2 billion) investment in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant on the Suffolk coast, spoke of a “golden age of clean energy abundance” to protect family finances and tackle the climate crisis, the explicit link to AI’s power needs was not made at the time. Despite the project being under the auspices of French firm EDF, the government pledged that 70 percent of contracts would be awarded to companies within the UK supply chain.
The interim report is merely the first step. A more detailed report is anticipated in the autumn, promising further recommendations. These are expected to address critical issues such as a pervasive “culture of risk aversion,” the inefficiencies arising from inconsistencies and duplication across multiple overlapping regulatory bodies, and an “outdated planning framework” that currently impedes the adoption of innovative technologies like small and advanced modular reactors. The forthcoming report will also explore avenues for greater international standardisation among regulators, aiming to streamline processes and foster a more agile nuclear development landscape.