Why hot nuclear stocks could easily make you rich

Over the past few months – indeed, since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 – we’ve been focused on all things AI. And of course, the AI ​​boom going on right now presents plenty of opportunities as well as risks. I mean, imagine. This powerful technology could do things like help researchers develop new cures for treatment-resistant diseases. And just as easily, it could put a lot of people out of a job. But we think one of the biggest risks this boom poses is a the fundamental energy problem.

Simply put, AI data centers require much of energy to run. And with existing methods and infrastructure, we may not have enough to feed them.

But the world may have found a solution to this existential AI problem in the most unlikely of places – nuclear energy.

Nuclear: an unlikely hero?

At one time, nuclear power was hailed as the best source of energy in the world. But that was years ago – before major disasters like Fukushima in 2011, Chernobyl in 1986 and Three Mile Island in 1979. Those catastrophes were a stark reminder that nuclear power plants can be exceptionally dangerous, not just to people , but also for entire ecosystems.

However, nuclear power technology has improved dramatically in recent decades. And thanks to those advances, nuclear power plants are no longer so dangerous. The industry has developed new fuels that are more resistant to radiation, corrosion and higher temperatures, not to mention advanced tools to monitor every system and process. The underlying technology has improved significantly. In fact, studies show that nuclear power plants are significantly safer than traditional power plants such as coal, oil and natural gas.

Indeed, as the World Nuclear Association notes, “In the 60-year history of civilian nuclear power production, with more than 18,500 cumulative reactor-years in 36 countries, there have been only three significant nuclear power plant accidents.”

So if nuclear energy is really safer than almost all other energy sources, then why don’t we use more of it?

After all, it is much more efficient than any other energy source. It has a so-called “capacity factor” – the percentage of time a plant produces full power – of 93%, meaning nuclear plants produce full power about 93% of the time.

By comparison, natural gas plants have a capacity factor of less than 60%. Coal is down 40%. Solar is only at 25%.

Nuclear power is far more efficient than all of them!