Sometimes it's good to be the hot new stock in an industry ripe for disruption. And that's exactly what Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) was when it went public in May 2024 through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger. The small modular reactor (SMR) company had a compelling plan focused on artificial intelligence (AI), support from AI guru Sam Altman, and an incoming nuclear-friendly presidential administration.
But one problem with being the hot new stock is that you eventually become the not-so-new stock, leaving room for another company to assume that role. This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia.
For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » That's exactly what happened in April when X-Energy (NASDAQ: XE) went public. This new SMR company has a compelling AI-focused plan, support from AI hyperscaler Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and a nuclear-friendly presidential administration.
Wait a minute... this sounds familiar! So, which of these next-generation nuclear stocks looks like a better buy? SMR company NuScale Energy (NYSE: SMR) is developing an SMR that's essentially a smaller version of the standard water-cooled system found in almost all existing U.S. nuclear power plants.
But Oklo and X-Energy's SMR designs differ from NuScale's in fundamental ways. Oklo's Aurora Powerhouse design is based on a small-scale fast reactor cooled by liquid sodium instead of water. Because liquid sodium has a very high boiling point, the system can operate at higher temperatures and lower pressures than a water-cooled reactor, which in theory makes it more efficient.
The "fast" part of the "fast reactor" maintains fission without slowing down neutrons, allowing the reactor to be fueled with spent fuel from existing reactors. X-Energy's XE-100 SMR is a high-temperature reactor cooled by pressurized helium gas, which is then pumped into a separate water loop to heat the water into steam and power steam turbines. As an inert element, helium provides extra insurance that no radiation is transferred into the water system.
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