Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I absolutely assure the noble Lord that he will see growth zones in those areas. They will not be concentrated in the south-east. The reason the first one happened to be in Culham was to do with the immediacy of potential private sector interaction and the power supply. On the compute facility in Edinburgh, ARCHER2, the very important computer there, will be extended to the end of 2026, and we are looking actively at what happens next. I reiterate that that computer is not primarily about AI, although it will have AI capabilities.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Lansley (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)]

My Lords, it is the turn of this side.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I reassure my noble friend on the Liberal Democrat Benches that he should not worry too much about this. In September, I spent a significant amount of time in Ayrshire, in the company of a representative of one of the largest asset managers in the world. They were looking for a site in Ayrshire, thankfully, for what has become known as critical compute infrastructure. I was in the company of the local Member of Parliament, who was very keen to get this infrastructure there. In the first conversation we had with this investor, it was clear that access to energy was the most important factor as to whether we got this substantial investment. It was equally clear that global competition for this sort of investment was going to be dependent on the comparative rollout of newer advanced reactors.

We have a particular problem with this in Scotland. The current Scottish National Government are in opposition to building new nuclear power stations. When they were in coalition with the Scottish Greens, the position of the Scottish Greens was that there was nothing safe or secure about nuclear power. The point is that the new advanced reactors are much safer than they were. Will the Government, and the Minister in particular, come to Scotland to talk to SNP politicians and explain that this nuclear power is much safer, and that investment in it will bring this sort of investment into the country, so that we will not be left behind?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I reiterate that SMRs are part of the solution to this: they have lower core power and lower pressure, use a large fraction of coolant, and have safety advantages over traditional approaches. That will be made clear. That is why the AI energy council is so important, to make sure that this is properly thought-through and that we get these in the right place to support the data centres that are required.