Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce Review

Debate between Lord Offord of Garvel and Lord Vallance of Balham

Thursday 27th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Offord of Garvel]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce Review.

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Lord Vallance of Balham)]

We welcome and endorse the report and accept the principle of the recommendations it has set out. We will present a full implementation plan within three months. The task force will be engaged in the implementation phase to review progress and support delivery. We will complete implementation within two years, subject to legislative timelines on elements requiring primary legislation. We have already met the first recommendation with the publication of the Prime Minister’s strategic steer.

[Lord Offord of Garvel (Con)]

I am pleased to hear the Minister acknowledge that the Fingleton report makes it clear that government indecision and flawed legislation are largely to blame for nuclear regulatory failure. As part of this programme going forward, I think all sides of the House would agree we need to move forward expeditiously on nuclear. Can the Minister give some specific recommendations around how the Government will approach the new SMR site in Wylfa?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an important point about Wylfa. There are two aspects of this in relation to regulations. Small modular reactors are a way to ensure that we have a streamlined approach, because they will all be built in the same way and the regulation will apply to each one consistently. That in itself will speed up the process. But the first reactor will, of course, be the first and it will inevitably be a bit more complicated than the ones that follow. In terms of the application to Wales, the regulators that have UK-wide responsibilities will fall under the Fingleton review, and we will adopt the same processes. For those that have devolved accountabilities in Wales, we will discuss with Welsh Ministers and the Government.

Artificial Intelligence: Emissions

Debate between Lord Offord of Garvel and Lord Vallance of Balham

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I think it is the case that AI is going to be very important in reducing energy consumption across a number of industries. Estimates suggest that, even factoring in the increased amount of energy consumed by data centres and AI, the reductions in use as a result of applying AI to a number of industries and elsewhere could outweigh that increase. So this is a complex picture, where AI itself will be part of the solution.

[Lord Offord of Garvel (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for bringing this up. As he has pointed out, and as has been mentioned in two or three questions already, these AI data centres are extraordinarily energy hungry. We think that, on a site with a perimeter similar to that of a call centre, a data centre could use 25 times more energy. So the Minister must explain how he thinks the UK can fully capitalise on this 21st-century opportunity with the most expensive energy. In fact, to pick up my noble friend’s point, our industrial electricity is actually five times more expensive than in the US and seven times more than in China. Could the Minister please work out whether this is just an academic question? We are unlikely to see many AI data centres with the level of energy prices that we have at the moment.

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

The ability to become self-sufficient in energy is of course dependent on renewable energy, the price of which has come down dramatically since it was first introduced. Making sure that the UK is protected from the volatility of supply of energy from elsewhere is an important part of what this Government are doing. The energy supply from renewables will increase as we get towards a carbon-neutral position, which will also increase growth in terms of the technologies invented, developed and implemented in this country.