September 15, 2025

expert reaction to UK-US deal on energy security

Scientists comment on news of a UK-US deal on nuclear energy.

Dr Eleanor Crane, quantum expert at King’s College London, said:

“Quantum computing is at the brink of making discoveries which will reshape global geopolitics. The two key areas in which quantum computers are sure to provide advantages over classical computers are: understanding nature and breaking data encryption. On the simulation of nature, this will lead to key industrial advances in batteries, fertilizers, superconductors etc.

“This collaboration between the UK and the US will be monumental for the intelligence agencies and cryptography. Both countries belong to the Five Eyes, the intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Through this the UK and the US will have access to previously encrypted secret data from governments in other countries. That data is encrypted using standards such as RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) or (Advanced Encryption Standard) AES, encryption algorithms that work to secure data. The quantum algorithms called Shor’s algorithm and Grover’s algorithm, with large enough quantum computers, will be able to break these current encryption standards. The challenge which lies ahead now is to make the collaboration sufficiently free from export controls and sufficiently well plugged into well-oiled supply chains that the UK and the US will successfully be able to collaborate on building large scale ‘fault-tolerant’ quantum computers.

“Quantum computing has always been a collaborative effort, with the initial proposals for quantum bits and quantum gates in the main quantum computing platforms we use today coming from Austria, Germany, France, the UK and the US in the 1990s. The question for the UK will be how to leverage the continued relationship with strong neighbouring EU countries, the case for which we made with Harvard Kennedy School here.”

Professor Fiona Rayment, President of the Nuclear Institute, said:

“We welcome today’s news of the US-UK deal to enable major expansion of new nuclear projects in the UK, building on investment in Sizewell C, SMRs, fusion and defence nuclear earlier this year.

“This announcement again confirms nuclear’s vital role in ensuring energy and national security, as well as delivering high-skilled, well-paid jobs across the country. New nuclear projects, both large and small, are crucial to meeting our energy needs.”

Declared interests

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