Oklo, nuke stocks battered amid speculative stock and momentum unwind
Amid a broader unwind of momentum trades, stocks tied to the nuclear-powered AI trade — Oklo, Nano Nuclear, and Centrus Energy among them — are taking a particularly hard beating.
JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain estimates that retail traders have dumped $24 million in Oklo shares through 11 a.m. ET.
This tumble comes alongside a tough-minded story from the Financial Times examining the prospects of this zero-revenue company, which as of yesterday had a market value of $20.6 billion. (It’s below $18 billion after today’s drop.)
Of Oklo’s plans to build smaller nuclear reactors using liquid sodium as a coolant rather than water, the salmon-toned periodical wrote:
“Some experts point to the failure of sodium-cooled reactors built in the US between 1950 and 1976.
Critics also note proliferation risks because Oklo’s plans would see plutonium move into private industry hands, where it could be at risk of diversion or theft by those who seek to build an atomic bomb. A decision by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a previous Oklo application to build a sodium-cooled reactor in 2022 has also raised questions.
‘That NRC deemed Oklo beyond help should be a red flag,’ said Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair at the regulator now at the University of British Columbia.
‘Liquid sodium is highly corrosive, flammable and explosive on contact with air and water,’ she said. ‘Many countries have tried to build these reactors before but they haven’t managed to prove they are commercially viable at scale.’”
“Some experts point to the failure of sodium-cooled reactors built in the US between 1950 and 1976.
Critics also note proliferation risks because Oklo’s plans would see plutonium move into private industry hands, where it could be at risk of diversion or theft by those who seek to build an atomic bomb. A decision by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a previous Oklo application to build a sodium-cooled reactor in 2022 has also raised questions.
‘That NRC deemed Oklo beyond help should be a red flag,’ said Allison Macfarlane, a geologist and former chair at the regulator now at the University of British Columbia.
‘Liquid sodium is highly corrosive, flammable and explosive on contact with air and water,’ she said. ‘Many countries have tried to build these reactors before but they haven’t managed to prove they are commercially viable at scale.’”
