After a 2026 sector pullback, The Motley Fool sees rising U.S. power demand and new reactor construction as positives, but flags reactor costs, small modular reactor development and valuations. It cites a 60% rise in U.S. demand forecast for 2025–2045.
U.S. electricity demand is expected to rise 60% from 2025 to 2045, versus 10% in the previous 20 years; the article links part of the growth to AI and electric vehicles. It argues nuclear provides always-on baseload power while wind and solar are intermittent. Cameco reports 438 operable reactors worldwide, 417 operating, and 77 under construction, mostly in Asia. Constellation has agreements with AI companies to reopen shuttered plants or keep plants slated for closure open.
Oklo and NuScale are money-losing startups pursuing small modular reactors, which still need substantial development. Both stocks rose on U.S. government funding news, then fell when it became clear neither firm was near profitability; large reactors are also expensive to build. The article cites P/E ratios of 25 for Constellation, about 19 for utilities on average, 157 for commodity-driven Cameco and roughly 17 for NextEra, which is not a nuclear pure-play. NextEra has agreed to buy Dominion partly to tap fast-growing data-center demand; the article says the combined company's scale could improve access to capital.
