Three Nuclear Stocks That Could Ride the AI Power Crunch

Energy-hungry data centres are driving demand for uranium to power artificial intelligence (AI). 

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 40% of the electricity used by data centres in the US is currently sourced from natural gas, followed by renewables with a 24% share. Nuclear power is third, accounting for approximately 20%. 

Nuclear’s role will become even more important once the first small modular reactors (SMRs) in the US come online in the early 2030s.

“Technology companies have plans to finance more than 20 GW of SMRs to date, though successful development of the technology could open up even larger opportunities,” noted the IEA. 

Today, we unpack three uranium stocks that could be set to benefit from AI’s surging power demand: Centrus Energy [LEU], NuScale Power [SMR] and Oklo [OKLO]. 

SMR, OKLO & LEU: Three key players in a nuclear future

NuScale Power, headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, is the only SMR developer to have received US nuclear regulatory approval to date. Its flagship NuScale Power Module will eventually be deployed on-site at data centres. 

Oklo is a Santa Clara, California-based nuclear technology company previously chaired by OpenAI’s Sam Altman. Its proposed Aurora Powerhouse SMR is designed to provide 24/7 clean energy to data centres. 

The Department of Energy approved a safety analysis for the SMR last week. Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte hailed it as “an important milestone” that will “establish a foundation for future Aurora deployments”.

Centrus is a uranium enrichment and fuel services provider based in Bethesda, Maryland. The company announced in March that it’s in discussions with Oklo to support the latter’s planned 1.2 GW power campus in Ohio. The facility is being built to provide power to Meta’s [META] data centres in the region. 

“Centrus is laying the groundwork to rebuild the US nuclear fuel-cycle capacity, including the services needed to support advanced reactor fuels,” said CEO Amir Vexler in the press release. 

The company is currently the only US-licensed producer of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the next-generation fuel required for SMRs and other advanced reactors. 

Uranium stocks are unstable 

Uranium is a high-beta sector. As a result, share prices are prone to wild swings. The Global X Uranium ETF [URA], which holds Centrus, NuScale and Oklo, is up 12.6% since the start of 2026 through June 15, though the fund has fallen 3.6% in the past month.

SMR stock has cratered 23.1% since January 1 and is down 2.9% in the past month. LEU has logged similar falls of 27.4% and 3.5% in the respective periods. OKLO stock is down 15.0% since the start of the year and has pulled back 2.1% in the past month. 

LEU, OKLO & SMR earnings

NuScale isn’t generating recurring revenue yet, bringing in just $565,000 in Q1. The company had reported revenue of $13.4m in the year-ago quarter, thanks largely to licensing its technology to a power plant in Romania. 

Its cash position at the end of Q1 stood at just over $1bn, most of which has been raised by selling stock. 

Oklo is pre-revenue and will remain so until its SMR technology is approved and commercialised. Net loss in Q1 was $33.07m, much wider than the $9.8m loss in the year-ago quarter. 

The company ended Q1 with a $2.5bn cash position. This increased further following a $1bn equity raise announced last month – these funds will help to support the development and construction of its Aurora Powerhouses. 

Centrus generated $76.7m in Q1, up from $73.1m in the year-ago quarter. Net income was $10m, down from $27.2m.

The company’s backlog at the end of the quarter was $3.9bn extending to 2040. This includes $3.1bn in its commercial low-enriched uranium (LEU) segment. 

Here is how the fundamentals of NuScale, Oklo and Centrus currently compare.

Source: Stock Analysis

Both SMR stock and OKLO stock could be considered highly overvalued based on the fact neither are profitable or generate revenue – yet. 

LEU stock looks like it could be a safer bet on the uranium theme. However, it still has a very high forward price-to-earnings ratio.

Uranium stocks: The investment case 

The bull case for uranium stocks 

The speculative nature of uranium stocks and their close ties with AI and data centres means that the uranium theme could ride a bullish wave in the coming years. 

Structural demand for uranium will continue to be driven by the AI infrastructure build-out, benefiting SMR developers (NuScale and Oklo) and those supplying the critical HALEU fuel to power them (Centrus). 

The bear case for uranium stocks 

Scaling and deploying SMRs requires significant capital and strong balance sheets. In the near-term, the lack of financial progress made by SMR developers could weigh on investor sentiment. 

Any delays to commercialisation and securing licensing deals could push the likes of NuScale and Oklo to raise further, potentially diluting existing shareholders. Delays could also impact Centrus’ ability to generate revenue from HALEU production. 

Conclusion 

AI’s power demand is helping to put uranium stocks in the spotlight as hyperscalers seek alternative sources of electricity, including nuclear energy. 

Centrus, NuScale and Oklo are all positioning themselves as critical AI infrastructure plays.