Amazon Signs Agreements To Support Nuclear Energy Development: OKLO, LTBR, SMR, NNE Stocks Surge

Amazon Inc ($AMZN) stock was in focus on Wednesday after the firm said it has signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects, including enabling the construction of several new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), to address its growing energy needs.

Following the announcement, shares of nuclear energy-related stocks recorded significant gains by Wednesday noon. Oklo Inc ($OKLO), Lightbridge Corp ($LTBR), Nuscale Power Corp ($SMR), and Nano Nuclear Energy Inc ($NNE) shares surged between 26% and 40% during the day.

Amazon said its focus is on finding additional sources of carbon-free energy that can both help power its operations and bring new sources of energy to the grid.

“Nuclear power is one part of that mix—it can be brought online at scale, and has a decades-long record of providing a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy for communities around the world,” the e-commerce and tech giant said.

The firm said its agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will enable the development of four advanced SMRs.

Energy Northwest will construct, own and operate the reactors, which are expected to generate roughly 320 megawatts (MW) of capacity for the first phase of the project. There is also an option to increase the capacity to 960 MW total, which will be enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 U.S. homes.

Meanwhile, Amazon is also making an investment in X-energy whose advanced nuclear reactor design will be used in the Energy Northwest project. “The investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than five gigawatts of new nuclear energy projects utilizing X-energy’s technology,” it said.

The retail giant has also signed an agreement with utility firm Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s North Anna nuclear power station. This will bring at least 300 MW of power to the Virginia region, where power demands are expected to increase by 85% over the next 15 years.

Following the announcement, Stocktwits sentiment for Amazon shifted into the ‘bullish’ territory (55/100) from ‘bearish’ a day ago.

Majority of Stocktwits followers of Amazon are expressing optimism on the stock’s potential.

Amazon shares have returned over 24% this year so far, mostly in line with the performance of benchmark indices.

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