Red Screens, Green Future: 2 Ways to Buy the Nuclear Sector Dip

Key Points

• Artificial intelligence data centers are driving unprecedented demand for reliable, clean baseload energy that only nuclear power can reliably supply.
• NuScale Power continues to solidify its leadership position through strategic utility partnerships and the commercialization of its regulator-approved design.
• Oklo is advancing physically with site preparation while maintaining a robust balance sheet to support its unique business model of selling power to end users.

If you’re checking your portfolio at the end of December and you’re invested in advanced nuclear, the view can look ugly. The industry, a darling of the 2025 market, is currently flashing red warnings to end the year.

Oklo Inc. NYSE: OKLO has slid 36% in the past three months. NuScale Power Corporation NYSE: SMR has taken an even steeper hit, down nearly 62% in the same period. For investors who bought into the nuclear renaissance narrative earlier this year, these declines might feel like a signal to exit.

However, successful investing requires separating price action from business value. The recent chart meltdown does not align with the physical progress occurring at construction sites in Idaho or in engineering offices in Oregon. The fundamental drivers that propelled these stocks to new heights, specifically, the massive energy demand of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, have not vanished overnight.

Instead, what we are witnessing is a seasonal market phenomenon that has temporarily detached stock prices from reality. For the opportunistic investor, this disconnect offers a rare chance to acquire high-growth assets at a discount as the new year begins.

The Silent Catalyst: Tax-Loss Harvesting

This is the point in the year when the calendar can matter as much as the balance sheet. In the final trading days of December, tax-driven flows often dominate—especially in volatile, high-beta names that ran hard earlier in the year and then snapped back.

2025 was volatile. While many sectors soared, specific stocks saw extreme price swings. Oklo Inc. is a prime example. The stock experienced a speculative surge in October, reaching nearly $193 per share. Since then, it has corrected significantly to the $70-$80 range. Investors who purchased shares near those highs are currently sitting on unrealized losses.

By selling those shares today, investors can realize those losses to offset capital gains taxes they might owe on other profitable investments, such as in the semiconductor market or AI tech stocks.

While the intense selling pressure might worry investors, it likely reflects year-end tax deadlines—not failed reactors or broken customer contracts.

Historical evidence suggests that this effect often reverses once the new tax year begins. The artificial supply of shares floods the market in December, depressing prices, only to dry up in January, allowing the stock to find its actual, often higher, floor.

Safety in Numbers: NuScale’s 6 GW Pipeline

While tax-loss selling affects the entire sector, NuScale Power offers a distinct value proposition for risk-averse investors.

In a market filled with paper reactors that exist only in digital simulations, NuScale remains the only Small Modular Reactor (SMR) manufacturer with a design fully approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The drop in NuScale’s share price seems to ignore the massive commercial strides the company made late this year.

The most significant development is the program involving its exclusive partner, ENTRA1 Energy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Together, they are targeting the deployment of up to 6 gigawatts (GW) of SMR capacity.

To put 6 GW into perspective:

• It is roughly equivalent to the output of six massive traditional nuclear plants.
• It is enough power to support widespread industrial decarbonization or massive data center campuses.

Financially, NuScale is maturing. The company has transitioned from a pure research-and-development outfit to a revenue-generating entity. Throughout 2025, revenue has risen, driven mainly by engineering services for the RoPower project in Romania. The company is not running on fumes; it ended the third quarter of 2025 with approximately $753.8 million in cash and investments. This liquidity provides the runway needed to execute these large-scale utility deals. Investors selling today are effectively discarding the most regulatorily advanced company in the western hemisphere at a discount.

From PowerPoint to Powerhouse: Oklo’s Physical Progress

Oklo Inc. requires a different analysis because it operates on a different business model. While NuScale sells the razor (the reactor), Oklo plans to sell the shave (the electricity).

This Power-as-a-Service model mimics that of a utility company: Oklo builds, owns, and operates the plants, selling power directly to end users—such as data centers. This approach promises higher long-term profit margins but requires significant upfront cash to build the assets.

This is where the market’s anxiety about regulatory timelines often clouds judgment. Critics cite the delays in the NRC’s Part 53 framework and new rules meant for advanced reactors as a reason to sell. However, this ignores two critical facts.

#1: The Dirt Is Moving

Despite the paperwork hurdles, Oklo has moved from design to execution. Construction and site preparation have commenced at the Aurora powerhouse site in Idaho. For an investor, excavators in the ground is a major de-risking event. It proves the project is transitioning from a concept to a physical asset.

#2: The Financial Fortress

Building power plants is expensive, but Oklo is prepared for it. The company holds approximately $1.2 billion in cash and marketable securities.

This matters, as many high-growth companies fail because they run out of money while waiting for permits. Oklo’s massive cash pile ensures it can weather regulatory delays without diluting shares to raise emergency funds. 

The drop in Oklo’s stock price over the past three months essentially discounts this cash position. The company has the capital to survive the wait and the machinery to build the plant. The disconnect between the share price and the balance sheet suggests the sell-off is overextended.

The AI Energy Crunch: Smart Money vs. Fast Money

When you strip away the daily volatility and the tax-season selling, the macro picture for 2026 remains undeniably bullish. The world is facing an acute AI Energy Crunch. Tech giants represent a new class of energy buyers. They need gigawatts of power, available 24/7, and carbon-free to meet their own climate pledges.

Wind and solar power are intermittent; they cannot run a server farm overnight without prohibitively expensive battery backups. Nuclear power is the only scalable, always-on solution. The easy money phase of the hype cycle, where speculative money chased any nuclear stock, is over. We are now entering the accumulation phase. This is where smart money investors look for companies with real contracts, real cash, and real regulatory progress and start accumulating that stock within the dips.

The drop in Oklo and NuScale today is uncomfortable, but it acts as a filter. It shakes out the short-term traders and leaves an opportunity for the long-term believer. The recent corrections are not signs of failure; they are an invitation to buy the future of energy at 2024 prices, just before the 2026 demand curve kicks in.