The Trump Administration Launches "Project Prometheus" With These Nuclear Energy Stocks (Hint: NuScale Didn't Make the Cut)

It was a big day for nuclear power in the U.S. as the Trump Administration unveiled the recipients of 278 research projects being funded through the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Genesis Mission on Wednesday.

The Prometheus project, which leverages artificial intelligence (AI) for nuclear development, was a big winner, receiving a Phase II award of $60 million over three years. It’s one of the biggest investments in decades in cutting-edge nuclear technologies.

The major partners of Project Prometheus include four of the DoE’s 17 National Laboratories: Idaho, Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Sandia. Major research universities, including North Carolina State and Penn State, are also involved.

But perhaps the biggest winners are the nuclear companies chosen to participate in the project, and their investors. Here’s who’s been chosen, and what it means for their shareholders.

Image Source: Official White House Photo by Molly Riley

The heavyweights

The biggest partners in Prometheus are the two companies leading the initiative with the Idaho National Laboratory, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services (AWS). AI hyperscaler Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also on board as a partner.

But the nuclear companies taking part include X-Energy (NASDAQ:XE), which has signed on as a Tier 1 partner with board of directors representation, committing $10 million in financial support as well as the use of its Xe-100 high-temperature, gas-cooled small modular reactor (SMR), tri-structural isotopic TRISO-X particle fuel designs, and other design and fabrication data.

X-Energy believes that participation in the Prometheus project will “accelerate licensing, manufacturing, construction, and operation across a growing commercial project portfolio.”

Although it’s not a Tier 1 partner, start-up Oklo (NYSE:OKLO), which is focused on designing and building a sodium-cooled fast reactor SMR called the Aurora Powerhouse, is also a Prometheus partner. The company is working on a strategic partnership project to integrate the Prometheus AI platform into its own Multiphysics design and analysis infrastructure. The integration is expected to streamline engineering workflows and support the development of Pluto, Oklo’s reactor system designed for plutonium fuels.

Start-up nuclear fuel company Standard Nuclear (NYSE:STDN) is also a Prometheus partner, and advertises itself as “the only U.S. company with industrial-scale TRISO manufacturing facilities to date.”

Nonpublic nuclear companies like TerraPower, Westinghouse Electric, and Aalo Atomics are also involved as partners.

It’s worth noting that this Prometheus AI project is unrelated to the “Prometheus AI supercluster,” a computing system that Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is building in Ohio in partnership with Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST), Oklo, and TerraPower. That facility, a one-gigawatt data center, is scheduled to come online sometime this year. It’s also unrelated to Jeff Bezos’ AI design and engineering start-up Prometheus.

Image source: Getty Images.

What it means for investors

Once again, Oklo ends up a winner with the DoE, after having been a participant in numerous prior DoE initiatives, including the Reactor Pilot Program through which it’s constructing its first Aurora Powerhouse at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Oklo’s current approval strategy is to work with the DoE on advancing projects and then apply the lessons learned to future NRC licensing requests. That strategy appears to be paying off, and will hopefully bear fruit when the company is ready to apply to the NRC for a commercial license for its Aurora Powerhouse design.

X-Energy, which just had its IPO in April, probably benefits most from the prestige and exposure it receives as a Tier 1 partner on the project. The company already has a fuel fabrication license from the NRC for its TRISO-X fuel. It also has numerous reactor projects in various stages of development in the U.S. and the United Kingdom that need regulatory approval. While Prometheus participation isn’t a direct step towards those approvals, partnering with the DoE in the meantime certainly can’t hurt.

The much smaller Standard Nuclear is even younger, having just IPOed last week. It has a market capitalization of just $1.4 billion compared to Oklo’s $7.6 billion and X-Energy’s $6.5 billion. It already has approval to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) feedstock and to produce TRISO fuel. Being part of this project allows the small start-up to work with industry heavyweights and deepen its credibility with the DoE and other government bodies.

Meanwhile, SMR start-up NuScale (NYSE:SMR) didn’t make the list… again. This shouldn’t be a surprise to investors, as the company hasn’t received any DoE support since 2019.

In other words, all three companies should benefit to some degree, but with nuclear stocks having fallen out of favor in the past year, it will take more than project participation to turn their fortunes around.

John Bromels has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oklo. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Vistra. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.