How new tech is driving investment in nuclear power
Key takeaways
Rising electricity demand, energy security concerns, and advances in reactor technology are driving renewed investment in nuclear power.
- Global investment in nuclear power exceeded USD80 billion in 2025, while nuclear generation reached a record 2,900 terawatt-hours and is forecast to continue rising through 2030.
- Demand from AI data centers and electrification is increasing interest in reliable, low-carbon baseload power, with hyperscalers securing long-term nuclear energy supply through power purchase agreements (PPAs).
- Small modular reactors (SMRs) are expanding investment opportunities by reducing project size, shortening construction timelines, and attracting greater private-sector participation.
With demand for electricity projected to grow strongly in the coming years, new technologies are driving a resurgence in investment in nuclear power.
A powerful convergence of tailwinds, from energy security and supply chain resilience to the demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and electrification, is driving global investment in nuclear power.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that global investment in nuclear power topped USD80 billion in 2025, nearly double the level seen in 2018. Nuclear generation reached a record 2,900 terawatt-hours in 2025 and is forecast to keep rising through 2030 (see Figure 1).
“Lower levels of nuclear investment and generation in the recent decades were driven by little to no growth in generation, and the emphasis on scaling down coal to prioritize renewables or capturing the shale gas boom in the US,” said Adam Poulin, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Equities, at Desjardins Global Asset Management. “But today the landscape is changing, driven by the needs of AI and because manufacturing is returning to developed markets after being outsourced to emerging markets.”
There is substantial international momentum behind the nuclear industry today. At COP28 in 2023, some 38 countries issued a Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050 compared to 2020 levels, rising to more than 1,200 GW.
In this new period of nuclear interest, two factors are changing the picture. The first is the demand for stable electricity supply from hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google, firms that boast massive resources and which are also critical to the global AI and data center build-out.
The second is the development of ‘advanced nuclear’ – a segment that includes new, cheaper technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs), helping to make nuclear power more accessible to a broader set of market participants and investors.
“It’s rare to have this kind of convergence,” said Daryl Ho, CFA, Senior Investment Strategist at DBS Chief Investment Office. “When we think about nuclear as a structural theme, it’s not just an asset allocation into commodities. It is something that cuts across several megatrends and therefore represents an interesting opportunity set for investors.”
Energy security is the top driver
For many observers, the emergence of new geopolitical uncertainties has helped to put energy security to the very top of the agenda when it comes to nuclear.
“What is driving nuclear investment first and foremost today is energy security,” said Cecilia Tam, Head of the Energy Investment Unit at the IEA. “That has been the main theme of how countries are prioritizing investment for the last few years.”
Reducing reliance on imports of fossil fuels has become vital in the wake of the disruptions of recent years. This has also happened in the past – France’s creation of its fleet of nuclear plants was a response to the 1970s oil shock.
According to June 2025 data from the US Energy Information Association, France has the second biggest installed nuclear capacity after the US. China is rapidly catching up, having nearly doubled capacity in the last 10 years. According to the IEA, China is responsible for one third of global investment in nuclear today and will have more reactors than the US by 2030.
Japan rewrote its energy policies in 2025 to reverse the closure of nuclear plants that had been announced after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011, and which led to 40 of the country’s 54 reactors ceasing operations.
Belgium is another example: having passed laws in 2003 to phase out its nuclear plants, it first delayed the policy in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and then dropped the plan altogether last year.
“Nuclear energy suffers from a disproportionate headline risk and recency bias, but the Ukraine and Iran conflicts have made the world realize that energy security is not to be trifled with,” said Ho. “The conversation is easier now.”
And the scale of nuclear can transform the ability to achieve energy security, as Poulin noted.
“Utilities often like to keep about two years of fuel supply at a nuclear plant,” he said. “It’s impossible to keep two years of natural gas next to your gas turbine. The energy security that nuclear can offer you is unmatched.”
The importance of constant baseload
Nuclear energy’s ability to provide reliable baseload generation is another important factor driving demand for nuclear today, said Poulin, given the importance of consistent power to the hyperscalers that are building and operating AI data centers.
Ho noted that nuclear avoids the variability of renewables like solar and wind. “Renewables have intermittency issues. They are weather-dependent,” he said. “Nuclear solves what we call the ‘green but dependable’ problem.”
It does this while being low-carbon, too. Ho said that by his firm’s estimates, nuclear energy emits only 13 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of power, equal to just 3% of the emissions produced by natural gas and only 1% of those from coal.
“The hyperscalers recognize that they need generation that is clean,” he added. “If carbon taxation becomes the norm in future, then the power you need for your data center may have a cost that you are not factoring in today.”
The hyperscalers have been moving aggressively to secure future nuclear energy supply, signing sizeable power purchase agreements (PPAs) to cater to their data center needs.
In 2024, Microsoft signed a 20-year PPA with Constellation Energy to restart a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island by 2028. In January 2026, Meta Platforms signed a 2.6 GW 20-year nuclear supply agreement with Texas-based power generator Vistra, to start before the end of 2026.
Amazon Web Services has bought a USD650 million co-located data center at the Susquehanna nuclear plant owned by Talen Energy, as well as announced agreements to fund the development of SMRs by Energy Northwest.
How SMRs are changing the picture
The biggest challenge with nuclear has always been cost – both its scale and its unpredictability. Uncertainty over time to market has also been considerable.
But advanced nuclear technologies, including SMRs that typically produce up to 300 MW rather than the 1.5 GW of a large plant, are changing the calculation for users of power and investors.
“SMRs are much cheaper on the total cost of the build, but more expensive per kilowatt hour,” said Poulin.
They are also faster to build, taking six or seven years rather than 10 or 11 for a conventional nuclear plant.
“For investors this matters because your returns can aggregate more quickly,” said Ho. “With the traditional return periods of 20-30 years, public sector finance was really the only option. But now the private sector can get involved more easily.”
The IEA predicts that up to 1,000 SMRs could be deployed by 2050, with capacity of 120 GW and representing a rise in investment from USD5 billion in 2025 to more than USD25 billion in 2030. Cumulative investment by 2050 could hit USD670 billion.
That, however, will require greater consensus around the technology. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) catalogues more than 130 different SMR designs as of April 2026.
“Standardization will be key to getting SMRs out quickly,” Tam said. “If regulators have too many designs to review, it will slow the process.”
Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), which is backed by billionaires including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, is one of the highest-profile providers of patient capital for funding advanced nuclear technology, including SMR startup companies. Gates has also backed TerraPower, a company that is commercializing novel reactor designs such as the Natrium SMR, which has just formally entered the review process in the UK market.
The UK has been actively fostering SMR technology, with a program spearheaded by Rolls-Royce to develop SMRs that will each power a million homes for 60 years.
Diverse investment avenues
Among institutional investors, private equity and venture capital investment is mostly targeted at the midstream and downstream areas of the nuclear value chain. The acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company by private equity company Brookfield and Canadian uranium miner Cameco in 2023 represented a landmark for private equity involvement in the sector.
Founders Fund, a venture capital firm, is investing advanced nuclear technology, including incubating General Matter, a uranium enrichment startup that produces the fuel for SMRs.
There are also very traditional ways to invest in the nuclear growth thematic, particularly for public market investors.
“In a world where fossil fuels are not the only de facto baseload energy generation commodity, global and regional uranium miners represent a readily investible option,” said Ho.
Other areas of the investable value chain are nuclear-heavy utility companies, reactor designers and manufacturers, and then the long tail of traditional infrastructure sectors, such as engineering, steel and concrete.
To learn more about energy transition investment trends, explore these stories:
Will AI help or hinder the energy transition?
Grid and battery investment: Why it matters to the energy transition
Why data centers are driving investment in alternative energy
Investing in real assets for the energy transition
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