Nuclear Stocks Soar As Amazon Becomes Latest Tech Giant To Invest In Nuclear Power

Nuclear stocks including Oklo Inc OKLO, NuScale Power Corp SMR, Nano Nuclear Energy Inc NNE and Lightbridge Corp LTBR are moving higher in early trading Wednesday after Amazon.com Inc AMZN Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest over $500 million in nuclear power.

What Happened: AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, said it signed three new agreements on Wednesday to support the development of nuclear energy projects, including the construction of several new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

Amazon inked a deal with Energy Northwest in Washington to build four advanced SMRs. The reactors are expected to generate approximately 320 MW of capacity in the first phase of the project, with the option to increase to 960 MW in total.

The tech giant also invested in X-energy. Amazon said it plans to use the company’s advanced nuclear reactor design in the Energy Northwest project. The investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than five gigawatts of new nuclear energy projects.

Amazon also signed an agreement with Dominion Energy in Virginia to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion's North Anna nuclear power station. The project would bring at least 300 MW of power to the Virginia region.

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040,” said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services.

“One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale—which is why it's an important area of investment for Amazon.”

See Also: Oklo CEO Highlights ‘Mind-Blowing’ Demand For AI Power, Says Google’s Nuclear Deal Only ‘Tip Of The Iceberg’

Amazon is the latest big tech company to make a push into nuclear as tech giants increasingly turn to nuclear to meet the rising energy demands of data centers related to the AI boom.

Google on Monday announced a deal to purchase power from a fleet of SMRs from Kairos Power. The first reactor is expected to be online by 2030, with more reactors anticipated through 2035.

NuScale is a provider of advanced SMR nuclear technology. Oklo is developing fast fission power plants to provide clean, reliable and affordable energy at scale. Nano Nuclear is an early-stage nuclear energy company. Lightbridge is focused on developing advanced nuclear fuel technology.

OKLO, NU, LTBR Price Action: At publication time, Oklo shares were up 27.6% at $14.86, NuScale shares were up 8.81% $14.82, Nano Nuclear shares were up 5.01% at $16.34 and Lightbridge shares were up 11.7% at $4.01, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Shutterstock.