Trump plans to quadruple nuclear power capacity by 2050, nuclear power stocks continue to rise

Nuclear stocks continued to rise after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to quadruple the U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050, driven by an ambitious energy policy.

First, the executive order was signed in the Oval Office of the White House last Friday, with several nuclear industry executives in attendance. Trump announced that the U.S. nuclear capacity will jump from about 100 GW to 400 GW. This move not only reflects the U.S.'s emphasis on energy independence and clean energy, but also represents a high bet on the future of nuclear technology.

Second, the executive order focuses on solving the long-standing bottlenecks in the development of nuclear energy, the complex regulatory and licensing processes. By simplifying the approval process, the policy clears the way for the production, transportation and on-site deployment of advanced nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs). This series of measures heralds a more flexible and scalable technological era for the nuclear energy industry.

Third, the development of nuclear energy is inseparable from uranium, a key fuel. Boosted by favorable policies, uranium-related company stocks generally rose on Tuesday. Uranium Energy Corporation (UEC) and Energy Fuels Corporation (UUUU) both rose more than 1%. In addition, the VanEck Uranium & Nuclear ETF (NLR) also hit a 52-week high, with a year-to-date increase of 20%.

In addition, Joe Domingos, CEO of Constellation Energy, said at the signing ceremony that regulatory delays have always been the "mortal enemy" of the development of the nuclear power industry. "Approval delays mean that power plants cannot be put into operation for a long time, and companies have difficulty generating cash flow, while capital costs continue to rise," he said.

At the same time, large American technology companies are also accelerating their layout in the nuclear energy field, seeking to provide more stable energy support for data centers and artificial intelligence projects. Earlier this month, Google announced a partnership with advanced nuclear reactor company Elementl Power. Microsoft established a partnership with United Energy as early as September last year to support the energy needs of its AI data center. Amazon is not far behind and purchased a data center park from Talen Energy last year to ensure a stable power supply. Oracle founder Larry Ellison also revealed last fall that he plans to build a data center powered by SMR.

However, with the continuous evolution of nuclear power technology, small and even micro reactors are gradually entering the mainstream vision. Jay Jiang Yu, founder of microreactor company NANO Nuclear Energy, said: "With the rapid development of AI, quantum computing and data centers, people are increasingly aware that it is almost impossible to maintain a stable base load power supply without the participation of nuclear energy."

Finally, the issuance of this executive order not only provides policy support for the nuclear energy industry, but also marks an important turning point in the US energy strategy. Clean, stable and efficient nuclear energy is seen as an important pillar for responding to climate change and meeting the growth of electricity demand in the coming decades.

In summary, Trump's executive order to promote the development of nuclear energy is undoubtedly of historic significance. Against the backdrop of rapid transformation of the global energy structure and endless technological revolutions, the United States has chosen to regain nuclear energy as the core of base load energy, which has far-reaching implications for domestic energy security, global climate commitments and the development of a new round of technology industries. It is worth noting that the involvement of large technology companies in nuclear energy infrastructure also means that the main battlefield of future energy demand may be shifting from traditional power grids to intelligent and high-density enterprise platforms. The policy relaxation and capital influx in the nuclear energy industry indicate that a new nuclear power era of "decarbonization, efficiency improvement and stable supply" is quietly approaching.