1911 Gold Corporation (TSXV: AUMB; OTCQX: AUMBF)
1911 Gold is Manitoba’s Gold Standard - Ready, Permitted and High-Grade 1911 Gold is an Emerging Gold Producer, with Significant Cash Flow Generation and District-Scale Growth Potential
Bill Gates is betting on advanced nuclear energy through his private company TerraPower, while public investors can participate in the same trend through two listed companies, Oklo and NuScale Power. Bill Gates has poured more than $1 billion of his personal fortune into TerraPower, the nuclear energy company he co-founded, and this bet is finally taking shape on the ground in Wyoming, United States. With artificial intelligence driving surging demand for around-the-clock clean electricity, nuclear energy has become the hottest sector in the energy market.
Investors naturally raise the question: Will TerraPower become the next great nuclear energy stock—that is, the next Oklo (OKLO)? The short answer is that you cannot buy shares of privately held TerraPower. However, there are two publicly traded companies that allow you to participate in a similar bet.
TerraPower’s flagship project is the Natrium reactor, a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled reactor equipped with a molten salt energy storage system that can ramp up output to 500 megawatts when the grid requires it. In April of this year, the company broke ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming, planning to build the nation’s first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant. The project has even received the first-ever construction permit from U.S. nuclear regulators for a commercial non-traditional water-cooled reactor. This is indeed a historic project, with first power generation expected around 2030. But for investors, the key point is that TerraPower is privately held by Gates and a small group of partners, and only they can enjoy the potential returns.
This is where Oklo and NuScale Power (SMR) come into play. Both companies are publicly traded firms focused on small modular reactors, chasing the same market opportunity as TerraPower. Oklo is building the Aurora micro-reactor to power data centers and industrial sites, with a target for its first deployment around the end of 2027. The company holds approximately $2.5 billion in cash with no debt and has recently signed an agreement with Meta Platforms to build a 1.2-gigawatt power supply system in Ohio. NuScale holds a unique advantage, being the only small modular reactor company to have received design certification from U.S. regulators, and it is pushing to have its first modules ready within this year, with commercial deployment targeted around 2030.
These once-obscure companies have seen their stock prices soar, and the reason is precisely artificial intelligence. Data centers require massive, reliable, and uninterrupted power supply, and the grid is already under strain. Nuclear energy provides dense, carbon-free electricity exactly as needed.
However, caution is warranted. Oklo and NuScale are essentially pre-revenue companies, and their first commercial reactors are still years away, with timelines ranging from 2027 to 2030. Their stock prices are driven by expectations rather than profits, carrying high valuations, and they face real regulatory and construction risks. TerraPower operates on a similar timeline, but the public cannot invest directly. Buying any nuclear energy stock today is a bet on a future that has not yet arrived.
In summary, TerraPower is not the next Oklo, simply because it is not a stock at all. It is Bill Gates’s private, pioneering bet on advanced nuclear energy, and its progress is worth monitoring as a signal for the entire industry. If you want to invest in this theme in practice, Oklo and NuScale are the investable enterprises.
