Britain plots atomic reboot as datacenter demand surges
- Reference: 1764061215
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/25/uk_nuclear_power_reform/
- Source link:
A report published Monday by the government's [1]Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce claims that the UK is now the most expensive place in the world to deliver nuclear projects and calls for a "radical reset" of nuclear regulations, essentially blaming red tape for the decline in Britain's atomic industry over the past several decades.
The report recommends "streamlining regulation" to avoid "overly bureaucratic, costly processes," but claims this can all be done while improving safety standards.
[2]
John Fingleton, former boss of the Office of Fair Trading who also sits on the board for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is leader of the taskforce. He says in the report that there are fundamental regulatory drivers of high cost and delay, and cites risk aversion; a prioritization of processes over outcomes; and the lack of incentives to maximize the benefits to society.
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The document outlines 47 recommendations for the government, which come under five general areas: providing clearer leadership and direction for the nuclear sector; simplifying the regulatory approval process for atomic projects; reducing risk aversion; addressing incentives to delay progress; and working with the nuclear sector to speed delivery and boost innovation.
Among the recommendations is that a Commission for Nuclear Regulation should be established, becoming a "unified decision maker" across all other regulators, planners, and approval bodies.
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The report also talks of reforming environmental and planning regimes to speed approvals, echoing the government's earlier decisions to [6]streamline the planning process to make it easier for datacenter projects to get built.
It recommends amending the cost cap for judicial reviews and limiting legal challenges to Nationally Strategic Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), while indemnifying nuclear developers against any damages they might incur as a result of proceeding with their project while a judicial review is still being decided.
Another recommendation that may be cause for concern is that the government should modify the Habitats Regulations to reduce costs. These are rules created to protect the most important and vulnerable natural sites and wildlife species across the UK.
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The report also states that radiation limits for workers are overly conservative and well below what could be appropriately considered "broadly acceptable," claiming that they are many times less than what the average person in the UK normally receives in a year.
Other countries are seeking to smooth the way for more nuclear capacity to be added post-haste, the report notes. This includes the US, where the White House ordered the reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this year, and France, which has enacted the Nuclear Acceleration Act to simplify permitting and speed up the construction of new reactors.
[8]Google and Westinghouse lean on AI to speed US nuclear plant builds
[9]US pumps $1B into Three Mile Island nuclear plant reboot to keep AI datacenters fed
[10]Britain's first small modular reactors to be built in Wales
[11]Datacenter biz and nuke startup join forces for Texas AI ranch
The UK will need extra energy to power an uptick in datacenter construction as part of its [12]AI Opportunities Action Plan detailed at the start of this year. Even before this plan was announced, the National Grid chief was [13]warning that bit barn power consumption is on track to grow 500 percent over the next decade.
But those datacenters are being built now, while nuclear facilities can take up to a decade to construct and bring online, and it's hard to see how slashing regulations is going to cut down that timeline by much.
It was announced this month that the UK will build its [14]first nuclear plant powered by small modular reactors (SMRs), for example, but this won't be generating power until the mid-2030s.
It seems likely that datacenters are going to be mostly powered by electricity generated by a mix of gas turbines plus [15]renewable energy from wind and solar until new atomic sources can be built.
The Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce claims that the UK stands at a critical juncture. "Once a global leader in nuclear energy, it is now the most expensive country in the world to deliver nuclear projects," it says. "Existing power stations are approaching the end of their lives, while replacements are delayed and over budget.
"To meet the UK's growing energy demands, to drive down carbon emissions, and to sustain our strategic nuclear deterrent, along with the high-value jobs and economic growth these will bring, the sector needs an urgent transformational reset." ®
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[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nuclear-regulatory-taskforce
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aSWMTQbWphp7PPTXqkAGiQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSWMTQbWphp7PPTXqkAGiQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSWMTQbWphp7PPTXqkAGiQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aSWMTQbWphp7PPTXqkAGiQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/uk_datacenter_planning_rules/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aSWMTQbWphp7PPTXqkAGiQAAABQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/20/westinghouse_google_ai_reactors/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/us_three_mile_island_loan/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/anglesey_smr/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/31/datacenter_biz_and_nuke_startup/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/uk_government_ai_plans/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/27/ceo_of_uks_national_grid/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/anglesey_smr/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/26/renewables_vs_smr_datacenter/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Good but ...
A former boss of mine was at Windscale (as it was then) during the [1]1957 fire and his first-hand account was sobering. I did a tour of Sellafield much later and was struck by apparently casual references to bits of the former plant that were walled up owing to previous leaks. We've seen in repeated, serious, incidents around the world that the technology has not so far been terribly forgiving and the cost of dealing with them undermines the economic case.
That's not to say technology hasn't improved and that the huge investment formerly required to build necessarily massive nuclear plants couldn't be obviated by small-scale reactors. But maybe we first need to seriously re-think who and what the electrical grid is for. We've taken it for granted that it was as necessary for supplying high energy-dependent industry as much as for keeping homes warm during the winter. Are we getting to a stage where it would actually be better for large-scale users to generate power locally themselves rather than transport it across the country?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire
Re: Good but ...
A former colleague of mine in Belfast had also worked at Windscale at the time of the fire and told of going round the countryside collecting bits of radioactive debris using a fluoroscope to identify them. I think we've probably learned a bit since then.
I suppose it would have been about the same time that I was given a tour of the local mill. AFAICR the steam engine was being used to generate electricity. It was coal fired, of course.
Getting there
"It seems likely that datacenters are going to be mostly powered by electricity generated by a mix of gas turbines plus renewable energy from wind and solar"
That is the right way around, powered by gas, and the unreliables. it is amazing how the solution was known 20+ years ago (nuclear) especially if you believe in the MMCC Co2 theory and yet only recently the green nuts seem to be catching up.
Hardly makes us meatbags feel better ...
Energy crisis - people will freeze ? Oh dear, how sad.
Energy crisis - techbros may lose out ? Let's upend 40 years of nuclear scepticism immediately.
(Actually it's refreshingly honest)
Re: Hardly makes us meatbags feel better ...
If it finally gets things moving in the right direction even the AI bubble has some value.
Re: Hardly makes us meatbags feel better ...
Follow the money,
Although in the case of AI it is a fear of being left behind. I would be very surprised if the energy costs the datacentre operators pay covers the full cost yet they will want first access to x number of MW.
Just like Amazon buying the entire output of a wind farm so they could claim they are using renewables.
Firstly it is not 100% reliable and all that happens is the rest of us continue to use electricity generated from gas.
I am always puzzled by these energy companies that claim all their electricity is renewable. The simple answer it is not and I also suspect that the people being sold it and the resulting usage exceeds what is generated.
People keep demanding that electricity pricing be decoupled from gas costs. I am fine with that as long as those demanding it are happy to have reduced load or power cuts when demand outstrips renewable generation and short term backfill from batteries. The trouble is that they are not. They want a 99.9999 reliable source at bargain basement costs. Not that renewables are that cheap in the UK due to all sorts of other insanity like paying wind farms to no generate.
Good but ...
Yes we need nuclear power; it's clean, unless there's an accident of course. But interesting how it was discarded as unsafe until the governments wanted it for at best a commercial panic and at worst to provide the tools for their digital control grid.