Taking the Investment Pulse: Q1 2025

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Markets & Finance

Kayley Deaton

May 29, 2025

A lot has happened since our last update—we hosted our annual Nuclear Financing Summit in New York City; Google, Meta, and Amazon joined 14 of the largest financial institutions in the pledge to triple nuclear generation by 2050; and nuclear-focused executive orders got signed at the White House less than a week ago.

But that last one’s for the Q2 installment. Let’s break down last quarter.

Trends

States, States, States: I simply cannot fit all of the state actions in this single section, so here are some notable mentions: Minnesota lawmakers started the year by looking at lifting their 31-year moratorium on new nuclear plants, Governor Henry McMaster used his State of the State address to say he wants South Carolina to “usher in a nuclear power renaissance,” Arizona’s three largest electric utilities announced they are exploring ways to expand nuclear generation, and Texas legislators proposed a nuclear energy fund that could be one of the largest state investments in nuclear ever.

Reversals, Reversals, Reversals: In response to the growing urgency around meeting electricity demand, India eased its nuclear laws to allow private investment, the UK Prime Minister vowed to change planning laws to “build baby build” new reactors in more parts of the country, a Bundestag member said Germany’s shutdown of nuclear plants “was a huge mistake,” Japan adopted a new energy plan that increases nuclear’s role, Italy took the first step toward ending its decades-long ban on nuclear, and the World Bank signaled it may drop its ban on nuclear financing.

Deals, Deals, Deals: On the second day of the year, Constellation announced the largest-ever federal procurement of nuclear energy. Then Oklo, TerraPower, Deep Fission, and Last Energy all announced partnerships to meet data center demand specifically. And then Tennessee Valley Authority led a coalition of partners to secure a DOE grant of $800 million for their first small modular reactor. Oh, and Texas A&M announced deals with four nuclear startups to build reactors at the university. Last but not least…a new nuclear-themed ETF entered the chat, followed swiftly by the launch of a new uranium ETF.

Nuclear has to be a part of the mix given the qualities of it.

Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat at CERAWeek 2025

Announcements

U.S. Developments:

International Developments:

But without major breakthroughs in storage, wind and solar alone can’t reliably keep the lights on. In the near term, more than half the electricity powering data centers must come from dispatchable sources … Where does dispatchable power come from? One source is nuclear.

BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink in his annual letter