8 atomic companies

It wasn’t so long ago: in the first quarter of 2017, Canadian mining company Cameco posted a net loss of $18 million, following a 2016 that was already in the red with a deficit of $62 million.

The company, whose shares were worth only about $10, was facing strong headwinds: the early closure of nuclear reactors and the termination of its contract with Japanese electricity company TEPCO (the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant) caused its sales to plummet, while falling uranium prices eroded its margins. At the time, few people believed that Cameco had a bright future ahead of it. Today, everything has changed. Almost all analysts who follow the stock recommend buying Cameco shares, which have already risen 70% in value over the past year. The company is benefitting from the resurgence of nuclear energy and the surge in uranium prices. In addition, Cameco has taken advantage of the crisis to diversify its activities. Formerly a uranium producer, the firm has acquired 49% of Westinghouse Electric Company in November 2023. The American power plant manufacturer is well positioned to participate in the nuclear revival in the United States. The company is in discussions with the US authorities to build 10 large reactors on US soil, according to Dan Sumner, interim CEO of Westinghouse, in the Financial Times in June 2025.

Buoyed by rising uranium prices, the world’s leading producer of this mineral is performing well. In 2024, Kazatomprom saw its revenue jump 26% compared to 2023. 

Operating 14 mines, the Kazakh company extracted 12,286 tonnes of uranium in 2024 and estimates its exploitable reserves at 564,300 tonnes. This bodes well for its future, given the global revival of nuclear power. Building on its position as a world leader, Kazatomprom exports to almost all countries that use nuclear energy, from Russia to the United States, Canada, Switzerland, France, South Korea, Spain, China and Japan. Kazatomprom is 75% owned by the Republic of Kazakhstan and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Astana International Exchange since November 2018.

The battle to win contracts to build new nuclear power plants has begun. While Chinese companies China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) build almost exclusively on their home turf, other players are targeting exports. The world leader Rosatom, for example, is currently building power plants in Turkey (Akkuyu), Egypt (El Dabaa) and Hungary (Paksi atomerőmű). And in June 2025, the Russian state-owned company – which is not listed on the stock exchange – won the contract to build the first power plant in Kazakhstan, much to the dismay of China’s CNNC, France’s EDF and South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a subsidiary of KEPCO. Yet, the latter still has some aces to conquer international markets.

After building four reactors in the United Arab Emirates, KEPCO is highlighting its ability to meet its construction costs and deadlines in its bids. This represents a challenge to its French (EDF) and American (Westinghouse) competitors, which have amassed delays and cost overruns on their latest projects. These arguments convinced the Czech Republic: in July 2024, Prague chose KEPCO to build new reactors, dealing another blow to EDF, which had also submitted a bid. However, the competition is steeper against Rosatom. The Russian company is the only one to offer its customers a complete package: reactor construction, fuel supply, plant operation and waste management. The icing on the cake is that Moscow also provides financing for countries that cannot afford to buy a plant. This option is attractive to poor countries such as Burkina Faso, which signed an agreement with Rosatom in June 2025 to build a plant, but it comes with hidden costs. Turkey, which financed its Akkuyu plant in this way, has committed to purchasing part of the electricity produced for 15 years at a fixed amount above the market price.

This is a newcomer to the field of uranium exploration and production. Founded in 2011, Canadian company NexGen Energy is developing the Rook 1 project in the Athabasca Basin in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Specifically, the project involves building an underground uranium mine, a processing plant with an average capacity of 1,400 tonnes of ore per day, an underground tailings management facility and water treatment infrastructure. Authorisation from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CCSN) in the form of a licence is required for the project to proceed. According to the company, the CNSC’s decision could be made by 2026. Analysts following the company are confident about the outcome of this review, with all recommending buying the stock, which is currently trading at around the 9 Canadian dollar mark.

NuScale was founded in 2007 at the University of Oregon to develop and market mini nuclear reactors. Its product is currently one of the most advanced on the market. 

In May 2025, the design of its second reactor model, with a capacity of 77 MWe, was approved by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The American company is the only SMR developer in the United States to have two designs approved by the NRC. The company now expects to secure firm orders from its customers by the end of 2025, with its first SMRs expected to come online in 2030. Analysts view the stock, which has risen 85% since the beginning of the year (as of 20 August), as a risky but potentially lucrative investment. Half recommend buying the stock, while the other half recommend holding it.

Artificial intelligence companies are rushing to embrace nuclear power. They are well placed to know that their data centres consume phenomenal amounts of electricity. Alphabet has announced its support for Kairos Power, Amazon has invested $334 million in X-energy and Energy Northwest, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Dominion Energy, four startups developing small nuclear reactors. As for Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, he personally invested in Oklo in 2015, taking over as chairman of the company. Founded in 2013 by MIT alumni, Oklo is developing an SMR called Aurora, which is scheduled to go on sale in 2027 or 2028. In 2023, the company made a sensational debut on the stock market via a SPAC, with its share price rising from less than $10 to over $60 today.

However, the outlook remains uncertain. In April 2025, Sam Altman stepped down as chairman and, for the time being, the company has no site on which to build its SMR. In January 2022, it was denied a construction permit in Idaho by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), due in particular to a lack of information on accident risks and the planned response in such circumstances.

Natural uranium cannot be used to power nuclear power plants. It must first undergo several processing steps, including a crucial stage: enrichment. Currently, this process is carried out by centrifugation – a complex and costly method. According to Silex Systems, enrichment accounts for 30% of the cost of nuclear fuel and around 5% of the total cost of electricity generated by nuclear energy.

The company is developing a promising method to replace centrifugation: separation of isotopes by laser excitation (or SILEX process). Although the method is still under development, the company believes it will reduce enrichment costs. The only analyst tracking the stock recommends buying.

The revival of uranium production on American soil is being driven, among others, by Uranium Energy. The company, which began buying up uranium mines and deposits in 2017, when prices for the mineral hit rock bottom at $20 per pound (spot price), has been on an acquisition spree ever since. Reno Creek and North Reno Creek in the United States in 2017, Diabase in Canada in 2018, Uranium One in the United States in 2021, UEX and Roughrider in Canada in 2022 and, finally, Sweetwater in the United States in 2024.

The timing proves perfect, as uranium prices have tripled since 2017 to reach an average of $60 per pound in June. All analysts following the stock recommend buying the share, which is up 22% since the beginning of the year (as of 20 August), convinced that the US policy of breaking its dependence on Russia for uranium will boost the company’s sales.