Oklo’s Stock Goes Nuclear—Literally
From Zero to Nuclear Hero: Why Wall Street Is Betting Big on Oklo’s Reactor Revolution
Editorial Team (ET)May 15, 2025
Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) just lit up the markets with a stunning 19.7% surge following its first-quarter earnings report. The company’s results alone might not have been enough to spark this kind of investor frenzy—after all, Oklo isn’t yet generating revenue—but it was what came next that really got Wall Street buzzing. The nuclear energy startup revealed its plans to begin recording its first revenue as early as 2026, thanks to a new radioisotopes project. That, coupled with a powerful combination of energy market dynamics, political tailwinds, and groundbreaking modular reactor technology, has investors seeing dollar signs and long-term opportunity.
What’s driving the excitement? Let’s start with the basics. Oklo is not your average nuclear company. It's building a new era of energy through small modular reactors (SMRs), a newer style of nuclear power generation that promises safety, flexibility, and scalability. These aren’t theoretical designs. Oklo’s blueprint draws from working historical models like the EBR-II and FFDF reactors from national labs—proven systems that operated for decades. That proof of concept goes a long way in calming the nerves of investors who’ve been burned before by flashy-but-failing clean energy startups.
But here’s where things get especially interesting: Oklo isn’t waiting around for the market to adopt its technology. Unlike other energy tech companies that rely on utilities to integrate their products, Oklo plans to build and operate its own reactors, selling the electricity directly through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). That means they’re not just inventors—they’re operators, owners, and sellers. They’re writing their own playbook and flipping the energy business model on its head.
