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Companies that own nuclear reactors have been the biggest beneficiaries of rising demand for nuclear power for most of this year. That includes Constellation Energy and Vistra, whose stocks have more than doubled this year.

Now, a new group of nuclear stocks is beginning to rise—companies that are designing, building, and fueling new kinds of reactors. That includes NuScale Power, Oklo, BWX Technologies, and Centrus Energy, and their ascent may just be getting under way.

On Monday, Alphabet’s Google announced that it had made a deal with privately held Kairos Power, a California-based developer of nuclear reactors, to support the development and construction of several reactors. Financial terms weren’t released but Kairos expects to get the first reactor up and running by 2030, and potentially build several more by 2035.

Google is part of a growing trend of tech companies buying power from nuclear plants to satisfy their escalating need for electricity for data centers that power artificial intelligence applications. Microsoft contracted with Constellation Energy to buy power from a reactor at Three Mile Island, and Amazon.com bought a data center site

Google’s Nuclear Deal Points to a Promising New Group of Stocks

Follow Barron’s in Apple News

Companies that own nuclear reactors have been the biggest beneficiaries of rising demand for nuclear power for most of this year. That includes Constellation Energy and Vistra, whose stocks have more than doubled this year.

Now, a new group of nuclear stocks is beginning to rise—companies that are designing, building, and fueling new kinds of reactors. That includes NuScale Power, Oklo, BWX Technologies, and Centrus Energy, and their ascent may just be getting under way.

On Monday, Alphabet’s Google announced that it had made a deal with privately held Kairos Power, a California-based developer of nuclear reactors, to support the development and construction of several reactors. Financial terms weren’t released but Kairos expects to get the first reactor up and running by 2030, and potentially build several more by 2035.

Google is part of a growing trend of tech companies buying power from nuclear plants to satisfy their escalating need for electricity for data centers that power artificial intelligence applications. Microsoft contracted with Constellation Energy to buy power from a reactor at Three Mile Island, and Amazon.com bought a data center site