Why Oklo Stock Plunged on Wednesday

Investors are giving Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) the cold shoulder this December. The nuclear energy stock slumped on Wednesday, trading 9% lower as of 2:40 p.m. ET. As of this writing, shares of Oklo have fallen 15% in December, following Wednesday's drop.

Oklo is building fast-fission nuclear energy plants called Aurora that can run on repurposed fuel. Its ability to recycle nuclear fuel is a major differentiator. Oklo made two back-to-back announcements on Dec. 16 and Dec. 17 related to fuel fabrication, but investors don't seem to be paying any attention to them.

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Oklo is making progress in plutonium fuel fabrication

To give you a backdrop, a critical part of President Donald Trump's plans to reinvigorate America's nuclear energy industry is to surplus plutonium available for repurposing into advanced reactor fuel. A shortage of domestic nuclear fuel is one of the biggest hurdles for the industry. The U.S. holds a sizable amount of fissile materials such as plutonium, and the Trump administration wants to convert some of that into fuel for nuclear reactors.

Oklo is already working with the U.S. government on fuel fabrication. On Dec. 16, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved a preliminary safety analysis review for Oklo's Aurora fuel fabrication facility (A3F) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), allowing the nuclear energy company to begin assembling the facility that will fabricate fuel for its first powerhouse, the Aurora-INL.

On Dec. 17, Oklo announced that it is conducting plutonium criticality experiments with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) at the DOE's National Criticality Experiments Research Center. It's a technical milestone for Oklo.

Why is Oklo stock falling then?

Investors perhaps now consider these as routine developments and expect to see more of them as Oklo pushed toward its first Aurora deployment. powerhouse.

Or, maybe the stock's fall has to do with something Jim Cramer just said about Oklo.

Should you sell Oklo stock now?

Cramer, the popular host of CNBC's Mad Money television show, former hedge fund manager, and investor, doesn't foresee any nuclear revolution happening in the U.S. and believes Oklo stock is a sell.

To be sure, Oklo is yet to build its first nuclear power plant and sell electricity. The stock, however, already commands a market capitalization of over $12 billion, and that's after the stock's more than 50% drop from its October peak.

Oklo has impressive DOE tailwinds, but investors perhaps see Cramer's bearish stance as a warning of more volatility ahead in the stock price. If I were you, though, I wouldn't sell Oklo stock just yet.

Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.