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![\"National](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/National-Grid-1200-x-800-1.jpeg\")
\t\tBritain currently hands out grid connections on a ten year timetable\t<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s AI boom is running straight into an energy wall, and nuclear power was supposed to act as its crutch to get around it.<\/p>\n
Instead, the government has hit pause, just as data centre demand is set to explode, leading investors wondering whether the UK risks talking itself out of its opportunity.<\/p>\n
Recent analysis from the Nuclear Industry Association and Oxford Economics warned that data-centre electricity demand will jump more than fivefold by 2030, swallowing nearly nine per cent of the UK\u2019s total power use.<\/p>\n
The AI labs and hyperscalers behind that surge want plug in-ready, 24\/7 power, all within two years. Britain currently hands out grid connections on a ten year timetable.<\/p>\n
This forms the backdrop to Rachel Reeves\u2019 decision to stall a sweeping package of planning reforms that had promised to finally streamline nuclear development.<\/p>\n
Consultancy firm Fingleton\u2019s review, which coined the now-infamous \u2018fish disco\u2019<\/a> as a symbol of regulatory overreach, was meant to clear undergrowth.<\/p>\n But instead, concerns raised by one adviser sent the whole thing into the long grass for so-called \u201cfurther work.\u201d<\/p>\n George Borovas, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth\u2019s global nuclear practice, told City AM: \u201cNuclear projects are always difficult. They take a long time and the costs are enormous\u2026 so you need consistency, you need predictability.\u201d<\/p>\n Predictability isn\u2019t what investors are seeing right now. \u201cWhenever governments create situations where things are unpredictable, that creates nervousness\u201d, he said. \u201cYou want everything else to be smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that this is happening at exactly the wrong moment. A few years ago, hyperscalers obsessed over renewable sources.<\/p>\n \u201cNow they\u2019re focusing on nuclear\u201d, Borovas added. \u201cUsing nuclear is no longer an option, it\u2019s kind of a must.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Britain is competing with countries willing to guarantee the power AI firms need. \u201cIf a country does not offer 24\/7 predictable power, they will go to other countries\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tLabour to hold fire on \u2018fish disco\u2019 nuclear power reform due to \u2018legal advice\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \tWylfa finally moves<\/p>\n