Nuclear stocks extend rally as Trump aims to quadruple US nuclear capacity by 2050
I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Nuclear stocks surged following President Trump's executive orders aimed at quadrupling US nuclear power capacity from 100 GW in 2024 to 400 GW by 2050. Key players like Oklo, Centrus Energy, and NuScale Power saw significant gains. The orders aim to eliminate regulatory delays and promote technologies like small modular reactors. Big Tech's investments in nuclear energy for data centers are also increasing, with collaborations from Google, Microsoft, and Oracle. The VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF reached a 52-week high, reflecting a 20% year-to-date increase.
Nuclear stocks extended their rally on Tuesday on the heels of President Trump's executive orders, which aim to quadruple US nuclear power production over the next 25 years.
Sam Altman-backed Oklo (OKLO) gained more than 8%, to extend year-to-date gains to more than 145%. Centrus Energy (LEU) rose more than 11% to hover at all-time highs. NuScale Power (SMR) rose 2% while Vistra (VSTR) and Constellation Energy (CEG), the largest nuclear plant operator in the US, rose more than 3%.
Producers linked to uranium, a necessary element to fuel nuclear power, also surged. Uranium Energy (UEC) and Energy Fuels (UUUU) were both up more than 1%.
The executive orders, signed at the Oval Office by President Trump on Friday with nuclear energy executives in attendance, aim to expand American nuclear energy capacity from approximately 100 gigawatts in 2024 to 400 GW by 2050.
"The problem with the industry has historically been regulatory delay," Constellation Energy CEO Joe Dominguez, who was in attendance at the executive order signing, said on Friday. "Delay and regulations and permitting will absolutely kill you because if you can't get the plant on, you can't get revenue, and the interest costs are horrible."
The executive orders clear regulatory and permitting roadblocks and accelerate nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs) that can be manufactured, shipped, and installed on site.
The executive orders come as Big Tech has been increasing investments in nuclear technologies in order to power its data centers and AI initiatives.
Earlier this month, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced a collaboration with advanced nuclear project developer Elementl Power, in yet another sign of Big Tech's insatiable appetite for electricity.
This follows a tie-up in September between Microsoft (MSFT) and energy giant Constellation Energy (CEG), as well as Amazon's (AMZN) purchase of a data center campus from energy provider Talen Energy (TLN) last year.
Oracle's (ORCL) Larry Ellison in September announced that the company intends to build a data center powered by SMRs.
"AI and quantum computing and data centers now are on the rise and they understand that without nuclear its going to be a really hard issue to get to this base load [or constant amount of] energy production," Jay Jiang Yu, founder of microreactor company NANO Nuclear Energy (NNE), told Yahoo Finance on Friday.
The VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) was trading at a 52-week high on Tuesday, up 20% year to date.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.