Cooling towers are seen at the nuclear-powered Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, on Aug. 13, 2024.
Megan Varner | Reuters
Nuclear power stocks surged Friday after President Donald Trump signed executive orders to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and speed the deployment of new reactors in the U.S.
Advanced reactor companies Oklo and NuScale jumped about 23% and 19%, respectively. Constellation Energy, the largest nuclear operator in the U.S., gained 2%. Cameco Corp., one of the biggest uranium miners in the world, rose around 11%.
Trump said the orders focus on small advanced reactors that are viewed by many in the industry as the future. But the president also said his administration supports building large plants.
“We’re also talking about the big plants — the very, very big, the biggest,” Trump said. “We’re going to be doing them also, but I think our focus today is the smaller module.”
Trump’s orders force the NRC to make decisions on nuclear license applications within 18 months and calls for an overhaul of the commission. The president’s orders also create regulatory framework for the Departments of Energy and Defense to build nuclear reactors on federal land. His actions also aim to jump start the mining of uranium in the U.S. and expand domestic uranium enrichment capacity
Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez and Oklo head Jacob DeWitte joined Trump at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office.