The DailyTradr is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this newsletter is financial advice, trading advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Always do your own research and consult a professional before making financial decisions.

There’s been a rapid change in policies and direction with nuclear the past few years and a big reason has to do with the rapid adoption of AI and the amount of power it’s going to consume. It may take more than 4 years but policies are changing where they are really trying to get these nuclear projects to go from just announcements/designs to actually being built and construction to be started. There’s been a significant push in investments by both private companies and the government to see if things can be sped up. It almost feels like a silent race where the demand for energy might show up quicker than expected making it even more important for nuclear to get implemented.

Nuclear ETFS show long term momentum building

The U.S. government is targeting 10 new large reactors by 2030

They want to get nuclear reactors going quickly and they are already looking at ways to speed up NRC licensing. Globally there is almost a feel of a little “nuclear power race” where energy consumption and demand is starting to ramp up and countries that can achieve this first will have a major advantage.

Big Tech is going investment heavy in Nuclear

Some of the big tech giants Amazon, Google, and Meta have already started investing directly into nuclear. They are already signing power purchase agreements and nuclear aligns with their goals for 24/7 clean energy.

China is trying to be build out 150 reactors in the next 15 years

Their goals might even be more ambitious but they are expected to be the largest producer of nuclear energy by 2030. This again puts the US in a position where they want to get ahead or at least compete with China who could also win the AI “War” if they are able to get ahead on energy.

These are the 4 most “pure” nuclear plays. This list doesn’t include the much larger companies which do more than just nuclear.

$SMR - NuScale Power Corporation
Marketcap: 3.87 billion

The leading developer of small modular reactors (SMRS). They have a Nuscale Power Module which is a light water pressurized reactor capable of 77 MWe per module. The only SMR design with full NRC approval it’s the leader as far as being ahead with regulations. Still precommercial but is still generating revenue.

$OKLO - Oklo Inc.
Marketcap: 12.35 billion

Oklo develops advanced fission power plants. Their focus is the Aurora powerhouse a fast spectrum microreactor designed for 15 to 75 MWe output. They have leaned more into wanting to emphasize a focus on rapid deployment for AI/data centers. They have secured higher profile partnerships with companies like NVIDIA but trade at a massive premium for having no revenue and being farther behind.

$NNE - Nano Nuclear Energy
Marketcap: 1.2 billion

Nano Nuclear Energy is a very early stage microreactor and nuclear company developing portable and compact designs. They are working on KRONOS which is a high temperature gas cooled reactor. They’ve gained some attention with the DOE for specialized applications. It’s a much smaller marketcap and much earlier which carries substantial risk but possibly higher upside.

$BWXT - BWX Technologies
Marketcap: 20.44 billion

BWX is a more established and profitable leader in nuclear components and services. They have worked with Government Operations focusing on naval nuclear propulsion for the US Navy. They generate billions in revenue and have a massive backlog with strong government contracts. This would be one of the safer plays but since it’s already established and generating revenue it has more limited upside.

One of the things that caught my attention with NuScale over the others was it’s advantage in regulations as a first mover. It is the only SMR design with full US NRC Standard Design Approval. This includes a recent 77 MW uprate. Looking at the competitors like NNE, OKLE and Ge their designs still face years of regulations and approvals.

Lower Technical Risk Technology

Their light water PWR designs build off decades of existing nuclear experience and fuel supply chains. This makes it much easier for licensing and supply compared to more advanced fast reactors. This also means better passive safety features which work better for utilities and data centers.

Scalable for larger projects

They’ve proven through partnerships that they are able to work with different scales of projects. They have an ongoing TVA partnership that is targeting multi-GW potential. Then they have newer partnerships with Ebara Elliot Energy focused more on power module integration. This would allow them to expand down commercialization paths.

Modules suit both utility-scale arrays (e.g., ongoing TVA partnership targeting multi-GW potential, though timelines have slipped to early 2030s) and industrial uses. New partnerships (e.g., with Ebara Elliott Energy for power module integration) expand commercialization paths.

Pure Nuclear Play

Benefits directly from AI data centers and since it’s solely nuclear it’s not as diversified as the larger giants like GEV or CEG (who do more than just nuclear). So obviously a little more risky as a pure nuclear play but at the smaller marketcap with way more upside potential I think it’s still safer with risk management and sizing than having to go much larger with the big plays with limited upside on nuclear just being a fraction of their company.

There is some nice upside in a lot of these nuclear plays but it’s going to require patience and understanding that these are long term plays. There could be substantial drawdowns and delays but overall I’m confident in the direction nuclear is heading. Pre-revenue companies are already trading in the billions and once production and output becomes commercialized they could be trading at much higher values.

There isn’t one right or wrong way to play the trend. Some might prefer DCA’ing a nuclear ETF that grabs all of these plays. Some might want to gamble more on the smaller marketcaps in hopes they triple or quadruple in value, or some might like the safer more established play with dividends.

$SMR in my opinion gives a clean 2x to 3x upside conservatively in the long term while being a little more established than others. It’s got a good mix of advantages while not being overly hyped. $OKLO may be more attractive with the large investors but it’s hard to grasp a 12 billion valuation at the current levels but if it has a substantial pullback I would find it more attractive long term.