It’s been a busy first six months. In their recent report, White and Case found that nuclear merger & acquisition deals reached $7 billion so far this year, and that number is expected to continue growing. In fact, public and private dollars have been flowing at such a rate in the U.S. that European nuclear startups are considering a permanent move to the States.
And is it any wonder why? U.S. states are reversing nuclear bans, U.S. governors are collaborating on advanced nuclear, U.S. government initiatives are supporting nuclear deployment, U.S. federal financing is now available to kickstart AP1000 supply chains, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is beating its review timelines.
All of that to say: There’s investor appetite for nuclear energy in the U.S. And this was before the Strait of Hormuz became a case study in energy security for countries around the world. The IEA chief noted that the resulting oil shock was worse than several historic oil crises—combined.
SO, what was Wall Street paying particular attention to during the first half of the year?
Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Retail,…
Unclear whether “Big Retail” is a legitimate phrase people use, but I’m making a point. Major companies and industrial players announced they were staking a claim in a future with more nuclear in it:
- Meta announced three separate deals with three separate companies (Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo).
- Microsoft and NVIDIA partnered up on an AI initiative meant to clear nuclear bottlenecks.
- Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly signed a letter of intent to explore nuclear solutions in Indiana.
- The #1 retailer in the U.S. (Walmart) and Constellation announced a long-term power agreement involving the Dresden nuclear plant.
- And word on the street is that hyperscalers are also looking to invest in the nuclear fuel supply chain. Speaking of which…
Nuclear Fuel
Uranium has always been a key investment theme for retail investors in particular, but it seemed to pick up a lot of steam in H1. Partially because of the conflict in Iran raising energy security concerns, and partially because more companies were making moves to grow the supply chain:
- Orano’s Project IKE, one of the nation’s largest uranium enrichment developments, is officially under NRC review for licensing.
- Oklo and Standard Nuclear announced a strategic alliance to tackle recycling and strengthen the domestic fuel supply chain, as did SHINE and newcleo.
- Oklo also signed a letter of intent with Centrus in one of the first large-scale commercial supply agreements for HALEU fuel.
- Urenco announced they would be expanding their enrichment capacity in the U.S. by 50%.
- And TRISO-X received the first-ever Part 70 license approval from the NRC for their HALEU fuel fabrication facility. Part 70 license approval from the NRC for their HALEU fuel fabrication facility.
IPOs
Nuclear-related stocks have been a blockbuster for a couple of years, and some will say, “That’s all because of artificial intelligence.” Wrong! Investors have consistently been flocking to nuclear stocks BECAUSE they know it’s not all AI. Forecasts indicate data centers will account for half of the load growth in the U.S., but increased electrification of homes and businesses, transportation, and advanced manufacturing will take care of the other half—and none of that will go away any time soon. Anyway, with all of the investor appetite, more nuclear startups entered the market and mostly via public offering:
- X-energy raised more than $1 billion when it went public, making it the largest nuclear public offering on record.
- Deep Fission also went public, as well as Standard Nuclear.
- Holtec announced their intention to list on the Nasdaq.
- And newcleo announced its plans to go public via SPAC merger later this year.
- Which Hadron Energy did in May.
I’ll see you guys in January to break down the rest of 2026—stay tuned.
