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Forbes
29-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
6 Best Nuclear Power Stocks And ETFs To Buy And Power Your Portfolio Growth
As long as large AI cloud services providers are eager to buy nuclear energy, these investments ... More could enrich your portfolio. As power hungry AI cloud services providers seek ever more energy, nuclear energy is enjoying a revival. While younger people who did not live through the near-meltdowns such as Chernobyl (1986) and Three Mile Island (1979) are bullish, the regulatory and financial barriers to building nuclear power plants remain formidable. Nevertheless, capital providers see these barriers as worth hurdling. With annual investment in nuclear power doubling to $60 billion since 2020, nuclear power could energize your portfolio. For example, Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement to use power from Three Mile Island, and Meta signed a similar deal with another nuclear power facility. To profit from this trend while considering the risks, read on for three publicly-traded stocks and three exchange traded funds which could rise along with demand for nuclear energy. What Is The Current State of Nuclear Power? With concerns about energy security and climate change on the rise, nuclear power is experiencing a resurgence. Roughly 400 reactors are now operating in 31 countries providing about 5% of the world's electricity. What's more, new nuclear reactors are being constructed. Of the 63 nuclear reactors being built, many deploy new technologies such as Small Modular Reactors – which are safer and smaller – and advanced Generation IV reactors, wrote Goldman Sachs. Another positive is the support for nuclear power from younger people who lack a direct memory of previous disasters and recognize nuclear's 'role in decarbonization efforts,' reports Strats Research. Nevertheless, nuclear faces significant challenges, including the following: 3 Top Nuclear Power Stocks To Buy Now 1. Constellation Energy (CEG) Baltimore, Maryland-based Constellation Energy Corporation produces and sells electricity, natural gas, energy-related products and sustainable solutions in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New York, ERCOT and other power regions. Constellation is a top choice because it is the largest operator of nuclear reactors in the United States and a major provider of carbon-free electricity. The company's focus on nuclear power provides a reliable source of baseload electricity and makes it an attractive partner for technology companies needing consistent power for data centers. For instance, Meta recently announced a 20-year nuclear agreement with Constellation. 2. Cameco (CCJ) Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corporation provides uranium through three segments: Uranium, Fuel Services and Westinghouse. The Uranium segment explores for, mines, mills, purchases and sells uranium concentrate. The Fuel Services segment refines, converts, and fabricates uranium concentrate. The Westinghouse segment makes nuclear reactor technology equipment and provides products and services to commercial utilities and government agencies, reported Yahoo! Finance. As one of the world's largest uranium producers, Cameco is a top choice because it is likely to benefit from increasing nuclear fuel demand. The company has substantial high-grade uranium reserves and long-term contracts with utility companies, providing a degree of stability. Cameco also has an ownership stake in Westinghouse Electric, providing exposure to nuclear reactor construction, according to SeekingAlpha. 3. NuScale Power (SMR) Corvallis, Oregon-based NuScale Power provides a small modular reactor technology system -- the NuScale Power Module. The NPM, a water reactor, can generate 77 megawatts of electricity. Founded in 2007, NuScale operates as a subsidiary of Fluor Enterprises, according to Yahoo! Finance. NuScale is a top choice due to the company's leadership in SMR technology, which offers potential benefits in scalability, safety, and faster deployment compared to traditional large reactors. The company's SMR design is the first to be certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, giving it a potential first-mover advantage in this emerging technology, according to 24/7 Wall Street. 3 Top Nuclear Power ETFs To Buy Now 1. VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) One year price change: 48.7% Top five holdings: The VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF The fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the fund's benchmark index of equity securities and depositary receipts issued by uranium and nuclear energy companies, according to Yahoo! Finance. The ETF is a top choice because it offers broader exposure to the nuclear energy sector beyond just uranium miners. It includes uranium miners, nuclear power plant builders and maintainers, nuclear electricity producers, and related equipment and technology. The fund's exposure to utilities can make a portfolio more defensive. 2. Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ) Business One year price change: 50% Top five holdings: Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF normally invests in securities of nuclear fuel and energy – particularly in the areas of advanced reactors; utilities; construction and services; and/or fuel. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of nuclear companies. The ETF is a top choice because it tracks a custom index reflecting the nuclear industry broadly. It offers significant exposure to advanced reactor technology, including a large position in Oklo, which makes small modular reactors. NUKZ has shown strong performance and offers exposure to the developing advanced nuclear technology sector, according to TipRanks. 3. Global X Uranium ETF (URA) One year price change: 54.6% Top five holdings: Global X Uranium ETF normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in the securities of the underlying index that tracks the broad based equity market performance of global companies involved in the uranium industry, according to Yahoo! Finance. URA is a top choice because it is the largest and most popular nuclear ETF by assets under management. It provides broad exposure to the uranium and nuclear energy value chain, including uranium producers, nuclear component manufacturers and service providers. This ETF also offers direct exposure to the physical uranium commodity, which is unique among nuclear ETFs. Bottom Line With investment in nuclear power doubling over the last five years, should you invest in companies and ETFs that track its growth? Despite the risks of nuclear power – which include enormous capital requirements, regulatory and political hurdles and the risk of nuclear accidents – the stocks and ETFs highlighted above may offer upside opportunity. As long as large AI cloud services providers are eager to buy nuclear energy, these investments could enrich your portfolio
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A Win-Win Energy Agenda For America
Energy is a top-tier issue at home and around the world. It is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, a key resource for trade and American influence around the world. It is inextricably linked to sustainability and is at the center of global concern surrounding climate change. U.S. electricity generation must increase to meet a range of critical challenges and opportunities facing the nation: the push for transportation electrification, support for the repatriation and revitalization of U.S. manufacturing, and power for the vast expansion of data centers needed to drive the transformative AI boom. Increasing sustainable and secure energy production is a national imperative, while U.S. leaders launch a movement for U.S. energy independence and dominance. Recently, the Council's National Commission on Innovation and Competitiveness Frontiers issued a Call to Action supported by seven strategic pillars and more than 50 concrete actionable policy recommendations. Pillar 4's set of recommendations call for Expanding the Nation's Transition to Energy Abundance, Security, and Sustainability. Five key areas of action are high priorities for the future of U.S. productivity, prosperity, and national security: First, launch a 'nuclear moonshot' to bring next-generation nuclear energy to scale. Nuclear energy offers now – not in the distant future – a viable, tested pathway to carbon free, baseload power. Nuclear has the lowest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per megawatt-hour, the lowest land use, and the highest capacity factor of any major generating energy source.[i] For example, a typical commercial nuclear reactor provides the clean energy equivalent of more than 3 million solar panels or more than 430 utility-scale wind turbines. A 1,000-megawatt nuclear facility needs about one square mile to operate, while wind farms require 360 times more land to produce the same amount of electricity and solar PV plants require 75 times more space.[ii] The potential exists to deploy Generation IV reactors within the coming decade. They are economically competitive, safe, and produce minimal waste.[iii] Small modular nuclear reactors are factory-built-and-assembled, plug-and-play modules that users could array in a variety of configurations. Hundreds of sites of retired coal power plants have the potential to host an advanced nuclear reactor. The United States should fuel a nuclear energy moonshot to accelerate next-gen nuclear technologies and turbo-charge deployment of this clean, baseload energy. This includes: establishing supply chains for domestic supply and fabrication of high-assay low-enriched uranium, developing new financing models and strategies for exporting, boosting programs at universities and technical schools to train additional workers for the industry; and, substantially increasing the speed of licensing at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and NEPA environmental review. I also want to signal a very significant, game-changing opportunity that is, at the moment, ours to attain: leveraging U.S. scientific advancements in fusion with significant investments – public and private – to bring fusion power to large-scale development with a comprehensive commercial deployment strategy. This is exactly what Council on Competitiveness Executive Committee Member Dr. Suresh Garimella, President of the University of Arizona, and the University's Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation, Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, call for in a recent, powerful op-ed in which they further state, 'At a time when Washington is focused on budget cuts and government downsizing, one investment remains non-negotiable for America's future: fusion energy.' Second, use all sources of domestic energy sustainably. The United States is blessed with an abundance of energy resources—natural gas, coal, oil, solar, wind, water, biomass, and geothermal—and our relatively low energy costs are one of our greatest competitive advantages. To maintain this competitive edge as our energy needs grow and to ensure U.S. energy security, the United States must adopt a holistic energy strategy that incorporates all its domestic energy resources while tapping them in the most sustainable and environmentally responsible ways possible. Advancements in carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies can dramatically reduce the environmental impact of using natural gas, and enable more sustainable use of natural gas as a 'bridge fuel' to cleaner energy for power generation and industrial use. Deploying smart grid technologies can enhance energy distribution efficiency, reducing waste and improving the integration of renewable energy with traditional fossil fuel sources. Third, build a national transmission superhighway and smart, self-healing electric grid. The superhighway would move large quantities of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar in remote locations, to urban and industrial centers with high energy demand. Tapping distributed and a greater diversity of energy resources would contribute to greater energy security and reliability. Moreover, a smart grid system would make it easier to integrate intermittent renewable energy across the Nation, and it would be more resilient to natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and other potential threats. The self-healing capability would enable the grid quickly to isolate and repair faults, reduce the time needed to restore power after outages, and prevent blackouts—reducing the impacts of energy disruptions. Fourth, accelerate and reward energy efficiency and productivity. Energy efficiency is the cheapest source of energy we have, and opportunities for greater energy efficiency are widespread—anything electrified, motorized, heated, or cooled. By promoting energy efficiency – and even beyond that, actual energy productivity – across industries, residential sectors, and transportation, the United States can reduce energy consumption, lower costs, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions, all while fostering innovation and creating new job opportunities. For example, industry can achieve significant savings through energy-efficient manufacturing technologies and processes, such as advanced heat recovery, smart motors, and LED lighting. Government plays a crucial role in establishing energy efficiency standards. By rewarding companies that meet and exceed these standards with financial bonuses and tax relief, we can also drive a market that accelerates energy efficiency innovation and its adoption. Fifth, mobilize and train a world-class energy workforce. To meet the need for skilled workers in the energy sector, government should partner with private companies, labor unions, and educational institutions to create training programs from technician level to high level engineering. These partnerships can ensure that the workforce is trained in the latest energy technologies, including boosting the workforce for a nuclear energy renaissance. It's a win-win energy agenda. We have a golden opportunity to leverage our energy resources, advanced energy technologies, and skilled workforce to improve productivity, boost our competitiveness with lower cost energy, meet our growing needs for electricity, enhance sustainability, and meet the call for American energy independence. [i] Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear, U.S. Department of Energy, September 2024. [ii] 3 Reasons Nuclear is Clean and Sustainable, and INFOGRAPHIC: How Much Power Does a Nuclear Reactor Produce? Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, June 2022, and July 2022. [iii] Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear, U.S. Department of Energy, September 2024.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kairos Power's reactor plans for Oak Ridge and beyond
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of two stories on Kairos Power's plans for building test reactors in Oak Ridge this decade and nuclear power plants next decade using two technologies based on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) innovations. Three construction permits from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for three proposed advanced nuclear reactors that will be cooled with molten salt instead of the water used in conventional reactors. A partnership with Google, which wants nuclear power as a reliable source of electricity for its power-hungry data centers to be used to test artificial intelligence chatbots and other models. A completed excavation of an Oak Ridge site for the new reactors that will use uranium fuel, located where a gaseous diffusion plant once produced enriched uranium for nuclear power plants. Those were some of Kairos Power's achievements in the past year or so, starting in December 2023 when the first construction permit was granted to the company based in Alameda, California. An update on Kairos Power's progress in 2024 and timelines over the next decade for its advanced Generation IV nuclear reactor projects in Oak Ridge and elsewhere was provided by company officials during a recent Zoom call with a volunteer reporter for The Oak Ridger. Edward Blandford, Kairos Power's co-founder and chief technology officer, and Ashley Lewis, senior marketing communications manager, were on the call from California. On Dec. 12, 2023, the NRC voted to issue a construction permit to Kairos Power for the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor. Kairos Power said that its first test reactor will show the company's capability to deliver nuclear heat as part of its quest to provide safe, affordable, carbon-free nuclear power to meet growing demands for electricity and to delay climate change. The 35-megawatt-thermal (35 MWt) high-temperature nuclear reactor, which will be cooled by a molten fluoride salt, was the first U.S. non-water-cooled reactor to receive a construction permit in more than 50 years. The company calls its concept the Kairos Power fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology. In September 2023, the NRC accepted for review Kairos Power's construction permit applications for the Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant, which were submitted in July 2023. The demonstration plant would consist of two FHRs with power generation systems for producing steam to generate electricity that can be fed to the grid. On Nov. 21, 2024, Kairos Power received two construction permits from the NRC for the two 35-megawatt (35-MWt) reactors to be housed in the Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant in Oak Ridge. The heat from the reactors is carried by the molten salt coolant to the steam generation system. All three reactors will be built on the K-33 site, where a gaseous diffusion plant for enriching uranium was built in 1954, operated until 1985 and decommissioned and demolished in 2011. The site, known by many people as the "K-25 Site," is part of the Heritage Center industrial park, located in the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. In 2024, the K-33 site was excavated by a Kairos Power contractor, Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Montana. Blandford, who lives in Oakland, California, said he spent part of the year in Oak Ridge, overseeing the excavation and working with other partners to 'repurpose the brownfield site.' Blandford is responsible for all engineering and technology development functions at Kairos Power. These include hardware demonstrations, fuel and salt supply infrastructure, manufacturing, supply chain and procurement, environmental health and safety, construction management and engineering operations. Asked about the excavation, Blandford said that the contractor, along with the environmental remediation support of Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA), had to remove considerable amounts of underground concrete and electrical duct banks left over from the historic gaseous diffusion plant. Duct banks that protect underground electrical wires, footer pedestals and foundation footings below the surface soil were removed by Barnard staff. 'The concrete and other material, such as lead and asbestos, must be managed appropriately,' Blandford said. 'We are coordinating with the Department of Energy to ensure proper removal of material from the Hermes footprint. That's a process we're working through now.' A Kairos Power video provides 'excavation by the numbers' information on the work at the K-33 site: 4,900 cubic yards of topsoil, stripped and stockpiled on the site; 182 remnant concrete footers removed from the Hermes reactor footprint; 2,119 feet of remnant electrical duct banks removed; 52,900 cubic yards of soil, excavated and stockpiled onsite; 7,901 tons of densely, graded aggregate placed, and 17,000-plus staff hours completed by Kairos Power and its contractors. In July 2024, Barnard and Kairos Power began collaborating on the excavation and preparation of the K-33 site for the 2025 pouring of concrete for the foundations and construction of two buildings. They are Kairos Power's third non-nuclear, molten salt Engineering Test Unit (ETU 3.0), which should be complete by late 2025 or early 2026, and the structure for the Hermes 1 Demonstration Reactor, which will follow it. Kairos Power has projected that the Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant housing two reactors and a shared turbine will be built and ready to operate 'toward the end of the decade,' Lewis said. Results from the non-nuclear Engineering Test Unit series will inform the construction and operation of the Hermes reactors. Engineering Test Unit 1.0 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, demonstrated the largest FLiBe salt system ever built after the unit was loaded with 14 tons of lithium fluoride (LiF) and beryllium fluoride (BeF2), the salt coolant that the Hermes reactors will use to remove heat from TRISO fuel pebbles. In February 2024, ETU 1.0 completed its pumped salt operations using surrogate non-nuclear fuel pebbles. In a Jan. 30 news release, Kairos Power announced it had completed the design, fabrication and installation of the first internally produced reactor vessel for ETU 2.0, which is being completed in Albuquerque. 'It is the first reactor vessel to be fabricated in-house at Kairos Power's Manufacturing Development Campus in Albuquerque,' the news release stated. 'With ETU 2.0, the company is ramping up output of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) U-stamped pressure vessels, advancing the production of specialized reactor components and gaining proficiency in modular construction methods.' ETU 3.0 and Hermes reactors will be built in Oak Ridge using modular construction techniques piloted at Kairos Power's Manufacturing Development Campus in Albuquerque. The reactor modules will be fabricated in Albuquerque and shipped to Oak Ridge for on-site assembly. This year, Blandford said, the next phase of construction involves putting in 51 drilled concrete piers on the K-33 site. Each pier of this deep foundation system consists of a large-diameter concrete cylinder formed by pouring fresh concrete and installing reinforcing steel into a drilled shaTft. Each pier will support an above-ground structure by transferring its weight to more stable soil or rock. Blandford said the drilled piers being currently built are for the non-nuclear ETU 3.0 building. The experience that the Barnard-Kairos team gains from that construction will help them put in the drilled piers for the Hermes 1 reactor later this year. This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Kairos Power's reactor plans for Oak Ridge and beyond
