Going nuclear (but for real this time)?

Some more promising signs on the energy front, but the bridge trolls still loom

• what’s the deal with uranium?

• not one, but two deals for nuclear power

• constellation’s banger

• EVs continue apace

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Going nuclear (but for real this time)?

With all the caveats around “this one big thing could make it all better,” nuclear power seems like one of those things.

It’s clean, safe, and reliable, and, once you build a nuclear plant, it’s cheap to run.

But nuclear has also been one of those things that seems to go through a periodic hype-cycle that invariably disappoints. Everyone gets excited, and then nothing happens, in the end.

You can sort of see the hype-cycles reflected in the price of Uranium:

Basically no one cared about Uranium (or nuclear power) for a couple of decades, and then every 5 years or so, people get very excited.

Putting aside whether the price of Uranium ought to go up if we’re bullish nuclear, it is up, and we are, in fact, bullish about nuclear.

And who knows, maybe this time it’s different?

Not one, but two big contracts for nukes

Random Walk has written previously about the exactly zero net-new nuclear power plants that have been permissioned in this country for decades (unlike China, who builds tons of ‘em).¹ That remains true, and it’s partly why for all the talk, it’s hard to be optimistic.

On the other hand, though, real deals for real nuclear power are getting done: first one, and then two:

EIA

Data Centers (who cannot get enough power) are helping the nation find religion on nuclear power, one deal at a time.

You see, Data Centers and nuclear are a match made in heaven: