Nuclear Stocks Are Back in Focus as AI Data Centers Lift Power Demand
On Oct. 5, 2026, Zacks published its “Best Nuclear Energy Stocks to Buy for October 2026,” saying nuclear is back in focus as governments and companies look for steady, low-carbon power. The screen came the same week the U.S. Department of Energy said data center deployment, partly to power new AI tools, is a significant driver of near-term electricity demand growth. Zacks U.S. Department of Energy
For savers and investors trying to read this market, the timing matters. Demand growth is no longer only in forecasts. It is appearing at once in buying deals, site choices and share prices.
Sustainable Views reported in January that stocks across the nuclear supply chain were beating broad global markets amid AI-linked energy demand. Yahoo Finance followed in April with a narrow “2 Nuclear Energy Stocks to Buy in 2026” list focused on SMRs, or small modular reactors, tied to AI and the data-center boom. That same month Reuters reported Big Tech is putting financial weight behind next-generation nuclear as AI demand jumps. Sustainable Views Reuters
Load growth reprices the nuclear chain
The International Energy Agency expects global data center power use to double by 2030 on growth in power-hungry AI, according to Reuters reporting in January. Wood Mackenzie, also cited by Reuters, sees a sharper long-run climb. It expects global data center power use of 700 TWh in 2025, rising to 3,500 TWh by 2050, with U.S. nuclear output up 27% after 2035 on data center demand. A TWh, or terawatt-hour, is a standard unit for very large amounts of electricity. Reuters Reuters
Reuters reported in December 2025 that AI data center demand is forcing old peaker plants back into service. Peakers are backup plants that normally run only when demand spikes. The same reporting linked that demand to pressure on grid reserves, the spare capacity that keeps the system stable, and to upward pressure on power prices.
The Department of Energy has estimated AI and data centers could use up to 12% of total U.S. energy output in 2028. Peakers can help meet short peaks. They do not provide firm capacity, meaning power that runs around the clock for computing.
Procurement and siting accelerate
On sites, the Department of Energy picked four federal locations in July 2025 for AI data centers and energy projects: Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Savannah River Site. Reuters reported in May 2025 the Department aimed to have data centers operating by the end of 2027. U.S. Department of Energy
Restarts are part of the same supply push. Holtec received a $1.52 billion loan to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, according to the Department of Energy.
Corporate buying is a second track. In June 2025 MarketWatch ran a screen titled “10 nuclear stocks expected to rise as much as 94% after ...” tied to the Meta-Constellation deal. It also described a common tool for broad exposure. The Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF, ticker NUKZ, held $256 million in assets and owned 44 stocks picked by company size, with limits on single holdings. An ETF is a basket that trades like a share, and market-cap weighting means bigger companies get bigger weights.
The practical detail for execution here is that structure still concentrates risk. A 44-stock, size-weighted index with limits will still lean toward large plant owners and fuel-cycle firms, with smaller stakes in developers and equipment makers. Differences between winners and losers are wide. Risk tied to any single project is high.
The broader context here is a mismatch in timing. Data center power deals are being signed for the next few years. New reactors, restarts and upgrades to add output need more time for permits, grid hookups, parts and workers. Old peakers restarting and higher prices are what that gap looks like now.
In my view, stock screens like this are best read as a map of where investors expect steady power to be valued, not as a forecast of which projects get built. Gains across the supply chain, Big Tech funding for new designs, and SMR exposure to data centers show buyers will pay for power that is both reliable and low-carbon. Whether that turns into signed revenue depends on deals still being worked out: how long contracts run, who backs them, who pays if costs overrun, and who pays for grid connections and upgrades.
Looking at what this means for positioning, the items to watch are familiar in power markets. Signed volumes and prices, start dates for service, loan and site milestones at the Energy Department, and spare capacity and power prices near big data center hubs. The Zacks screen for October 2026 captures mood at a time when demand forecasts keep moving up. The physical power system will decide how much of that lasts.
