Nuclear Is the Energy Story of 2026. Here Are 3 Stocks to Own All Year.

After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the nuclear energy market stalled for about a decade as many governments paused their nuclear expansion plans. But over the past few years, the market has warmed up again, as governments implemented new decarbonization initiatives and the power-hungry cloud, AI, data center, and industrial automation markets expanded.

Those catalysts could boost the world's nuclear capacity by over 50% from 2025 to 2050, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Cameco (NYSE: CCJ), BWX Technologies (NYSE: BWXT), and Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) could all profit from that boom.

Image source: Getty Images.

Three different plays on the same secular trend

Cameco mined 15% of the world's uranium in 2025, making it the world's second-largest uranium miner after Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom. The Canadian miner operates uranium mines and mills across Canada, the U.S., and Kazakhstan.

Cameco struggled when uranium's spot price plummeted from $62.25 per pound in 2011 to $35.00 in 2020. But with its price reaching $84.18 at the end of May, it's been doing a lot better. It also diversified its business by partnering with Brookfield Asset Management to acquire Westinghouse Electric, one of the biggest nuclear technology companies, in 2023.

BWX, which was spun off from Babcock & Wilcox in 2025, is the only large-scale producer of specialized nuclear components, fuel systems, and naval reactor systems in North America. It's also one of the few companies authorized to work with regulated nuclear materials, handle high-assay enriched uranium (HALEU) and tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, and produce naval reactor components for the U.S. Navy. It's even producing modular microreactors for building smaller and easier-to-deploy nuclear reactors in remote regions.

BWX's scale and diversification make it a great "picks and shovels" play on the nuclear market. Its heavy exposure to the naval market also insulates it from the macro headwinds.

Oklo, which went public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) two years ago, is a "pure play" on microreactors. Its Aurora microreactor generates only 1.5 MWe on its own (compared to over 1,000 MWe for conventional nuclear power plants), but it can be chained with other modular microreactors to generate up to 75 MWe.

The Aurora uses metallic uranium fuel pellets, which are denser, have better thermal resistance, and are cheaper to fabricate than the uranium dioxide fuel pellets used in conventional reactors. It also recycles its fuel in a closed loop, allowing it to last about a decade without refueling. Conventional reactors are refueled in stages (to prevent a full shutdown) every two years.

How fast are these companies growing?

Cameco is a more cyclical play on rising uranium prices; BWX is a broadly diversified play with greater exposure to military contracts; and Oklo is a speculative, all-in play on microreactors. Cameco and BWX are generating consistent revenues and profits, but Oklo won't generate any meaningful revenue until it brings its first Powerhouse reactors online in Idaho in 2027. Here's how rapidly analysts expect these three companies to grow over the next three years.

Analysts' estimates. Source: Marketscreener.

But these three stocks aren't cheap. Cameco trades at 53 times next year's earnings and 17 times next year's sales. BWX trades at 38 times forward earnings and four times next year's sales. Oklo, which is deeply unprofitable, trades at 211 times its 2028 sales.

However, all three companies could grow into their premium valuations as the world's soaring energy needs fuel a multi-year growth spurt for the nuclear energy market. So as long as the nuclear industry doesn't suffer a Fukushima-level disaster over the next decade, I expect these three stocks to climb higher as more industries pivot back toward nuclear power.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends BWX Technologies, Brookfield Asset Management, and Cameco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.