Oklo Powers Ahead As Nuclear Energy Stocks Rally On Clean Hydrogen Tax Credit News: Retail Weighs Risks

Nuclear and other clean energy stocks saw significant gains on Friday following the Biden administration's announcement that portions of nuclear power plants would be eligible for tax credits to support clean hydrogen production. 

These tax credits are designed to help prevent the closure of reactors by making it financially viable for plants to produce clean hydrogen.

Oklo Inc. (OKLO) stock led the charge with a 23% surge, while NuScale Power Corp. (SMR) followed closely with a 16% increase. 

Both make small modular reactors (SMRs) to power data centers and energy sectors.

Vistra Corp. (VST) saw its stock climb more than 7%, and Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG) gained nearly 3% in mid-day trading. Bloom Energy (BE) also saw a notable 7% increase.

Both Vistra and Constellation were trending on Stocktwits, reflecting investor enthusiasm.

Other nuclear and clean energy stocks saw more modest increases. Plug Power’s (PLUG) shares were up 2.6%, while NextEra Energy (NEE) rose 1.2%.

The boost came after the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service released final rules for the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, which was established under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

"The final rules include significant changes and flexibilities that address several key issues to help grow the industry and move projects forward, while adhering to the law's emissions requirements for qualifying clean hydrogen,” the department said in a statement. 

The rules included provisions that specifically benefit both hydrogen producers and nuclear generation assets, helping to address issues such as incrementality and time-matching, which had previously caused delays in the sector. 

According to Evercore ISI, these changes are expected to stimulate investment in clean hydrogen production, which had been largely on hold.

Despite the massive uptick in its share price, sentiment around Oklo’s stock remained ‘neutral’, albeit an improvement over the ‘bearish’ sentiment seen a day ago, as chatter increased to ‘high’ levels. 

Oklo’s stock has already more than doubled in value over the past year. 

Meanwhile, retail sentiment around NuScale surged to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a day ago, while message volumes remained in the ‘high’ zone. 

NuScale’s shares have surged more than 600% in the last one year, with gains of 77% in the last six months. 

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