Big tech backing nuclear is huge opportunity for Britain
X-energy’s small modular reactor training centre in the US. The company recently
signed a deal with Amazon to power its data centres with nuclear energy
When Amazon announced a £380m investment in X-energy’s advanced Small Modular Reactor last month, it became clear big tech companies now view nuclear power as a leading solution for their growing energy needs. The UK must take note, writes Tom Greatrex, CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association.
Tech giants need a secure supply of zero-carbon, price-predictable electricity which is available 24/7 to power their drive for AI and quantum computing dominance. Nuclear ticks all those boxes.
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, summed it up perfectly: “One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale – which is why it’s an important area of investment for Amazon.”
Amazon has joined Google, Microsoft, Meta and others in championing nuclear, announcing serious investments in the technology, be it building new capacity on new sites, or repurposing sites which previously had nuclear stations. They know that nuclear is uniquely positioned to help meet the huge power demand of AI with a reliable source of electricity that also protects the climate. And crucially, they’re looking to procure their own power rather than waiting for utilities to add more capacity to the equivalent of our National Grid.
“Nuclear is uniquely positioned to help meet the huge power demand of AI with a reliable source of electricity that also protects the climate”
The first domino was knocked by Microsoft. The company announced a 20-year power purchase agreement that could see one of the Three Mile Island units in Pennsylvania, US, restarted by 2028. Then Google announced its order of six to seven SMRs, totalling around 500 megawatts (MG) of capacity. Meta, too, has stated that it foresees AI data centres being built next to gigawatt-scale power plants – a remarkable shift from a certain Nick Clegg (president of global affairs at Meta) who infamously opposed new nuclear in the UK, claiming it wasn’t needed and would take too long. Amazon, meanwhile, wants to develop X-energy’s Xe-100 reactor, totalling up to five gigawatts (GW) of capacity by 2039. To put that in context, the entirety of the UK’s currently generating nuclear fleet is just over five GW.
While these reactors are planned for the US, the announcements will likely trigger similar moves in Europe, where electricity demand for data centres is predicted to more than double by 2030. With the UK government’s ambition to position Britain as a leader in AI, highlighted by the recent announcement of data centres at the successful Investment Summit, secure, reliable and carbon-free power will be needed. Thus, there is a real opportunity for us to attract new investment in UK nuclear, creating opportunities for businesses and jobs for people in our industrial heartlands.
For that to happen, there needs to be clarity and a show of confidence from the government that it’s backing nuclear. An easy win would be the publication of the UK’s green taxonomy, with nuclear’s inclusion, and for nuclear to be eligible for green bonds, so we can start attracting the same investment as other clean tech.
Nuclear can do so much more than just providing power to the grid. The UK should be taking the lead in attracting investment from companies who want to develop here. The AI revolution is hurtling towards us, and the biggest risk in securing that investment is anxiety about the availability of reliable electricity to power it. For these energy intensive industries of the future, nuclear is the answer they are already turning to internationally – we cannot afford to be left behind.
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