U.K. Tries To Jumpstart Nuclear Construction as AI Data Centers Demand More Electricity

Despite decades of protests, the United Kingdom hopes to turn back to nuclear energy as power needs for data computing are increasing.The head of Amazon’s cloud computing business says the U.K. needs to invest heavily in nuclear power just to support the skyrocketing demands of AI data centers. Amazon plans to spend more than $10 billion on new data centers in the U.K. over the next four years, which will strain the current energy grid.“I think the world is going to have to build new technologies,” Amazon Web Services’s chief executive, Matt Garman, told the BBC. “I believe nuclear is a big part of that, particularly as we look 10 years out.”Data centers consume large amounts of energy due to a number of factors, including cooling needs, the constant volume of data, and rapid computing. The growth of AI data centers requires even more power due to their high-density computing and the specialized machines producing more heat, according to a data center firm, North C.The data centers account for a small but rapidly growing amount of the U.K.’s energy needs. They currently consume 2.5 percent of the nation’s total electricity, but that is seen rising to 6 percent by 2030. By 2050, they are expected to consume nearly as much energy as the entire industrial sector does today.Ireland’s data centers chew up 21 percent of the country’s total power as of now, and that is expected to rise to 30 percent by 2030.Prime Minister Starmer has acknowledged the need for more power. He is slashing red tape to clear approvals for more compact and easier to build nuclear reactors called Small Modular Reactors. It has been 30 years since a new nuclear power plant has gone online in the U.K. Meanwhile, China is constructing 29 reactors, and the EU has 12 in the planning stage.“This country hasn’t built a nuclear power station in decades. We’ve been let down, and left behind,” Mr. Starmer says. “I’ll take the radical decisions needed to wrestle Britain from its status quo slumber to turbocharge our plan for change.”Anti-nuclear sentiment is widespread in Britain but support for new construction of nuclear plants has grown steadily since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to a strategy firm, Stonehaven. Fifty-one percent support building nuclear power plants to bring down emissions, recent polling of Labour Party supporters finds.The largest jump in support is among the young. “Just two years ago, only Conservative supporters and people over the age of 65 showed net support for new nuclear,” Stonehaven states. “Now, even 18- to 24-year-olds want new power stations built.”Amazon is the largest buyer of renewable energy in the world and has funded dozens of solar and wind projects. But nuclear power is a “great solution” for data centers’ energy needs, Mr. Garman tells the BBC.An Amazon competitor, Microsoft, agrees. “We welcome the government’s plans to accelerate the building of safe, modern nuclear as part of the energy mix,” Microsoft U.K.’s CEO, Darren Hardman, says.

U.K. Tries To Jumpstart Nuclear Construction as AI Data Centers Demand More Electricity

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