First special growth zone will be at Culham, home of the UK Atomic Energy Authority
The UK is planning special districts for constructing data centres and will explore dedicating nuclear energy to the sites as part of a Labour government project to boost technology growth and the ecosystem for artificial intelligence.
The ‘AI Growth Zones’ will include improved access to electricity and easier planning approvals for data centres, the government said. It said the first such zone will be in Culham, home of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, with more to follow. Culham has been the site of the UK’s fusion energy for over 40 years.
The government said in a statement on 13 January that these zones will also serve as “a testing ground to drive forward research on how sustainable energy like fusion can power our AI ambitions”.
“Artificial intelligence will be unleashed across the UK to deliver a decade of national renewal,” it said.
The AI Growth Zones will speed up planning permission and give companies the energy connections they need to power up AI, the statement added.
The government will form an AI energy council, composed of public and private officials, that will explore powering the data centres with small modular reactors.
The council will directly support the government’s mission to become a clean energy superpower by tapping into technologies like SMRs, the statement said.
The plan is part of a broader set of proposals to harness AI for public services, expand supercomputing projects and attract technical talent to the UK.
The idea of using nuclear reactors for the AI industry has already been discussed.
Big Tech Backs Nuclear For AI
Last month a thinktank set up by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair said the UK should introduce new ‘AI growth zones’ around the country with simplified planning and environmental permitting applied to new nuclear plants for data centres.
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change report, Revitalising Nuclear: The UK Can Power AI and Lead the Clean-Energy Transition, said the UK can harness innovative nuclear technologies to power its AI future, help decarbonise its industries and deliver low-cost electricity for its grids.
The UK’s nuclear industry welcomed the Blair report. Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the London-based Nuclear Industry Association, said at the time: “The Tony Blair Institute is right to say that Britain can become a global leader in nuclear energy with a huge opportunity to power the drive for AI, help decarbonise industries and provide clean electricity for the grid.
Several big tech companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft and are looking at nuclear plants to power their energy-intensive data centres and AI initiatives.
In December, Facebook parent company Meta said it wants to find developers that can provide nuclear reactors to support electricity demand from the tech company’s data centres and AI business.
Prime minster Keir Starmer said the AI industry “needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers”.
He said: “And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by. We must move fast and take action to win the global race.”
