NuScale Power Spikes 13%, Oklo Climbs 7%: Is the Nuclear Selloff Finally Exhausted?
NuScale Power and Oklo surged against a weaker broad market, while uranium and fuel stocks joined the move. Investors must decide whether improving nuclear sentiment signals durable rotation or another short-covering bounce.
NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) rose 13% to $10.94 and Oklo (NYSE:OKLO) gained 7% to $43.99 in morning trading on September 8, 2026, even as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) fell 0.3%. The Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEARCA:URA) advanced 4%, and Centrus Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:LEU) traded higher alongside reactor developers. URA remained up 12% year to date, while NuScale was down 24% and Oklo 39%. No company-specific announcement explained the move. Neither developer reported fresh customer contracts, NRC updates or financing news, pointing instead to rotation into a nuclear theme heavily sold during the summer. Short covering in thin trading and options gamma may have amplified the rally. NuScale’s full-chain put/call ratio was 0.2 and Oklo’s 0.29, indicating limited downside hedging relative to call demand. Early-September retail sentiment on Oklo’s Oklo Advantage thread reached a very bullish 82 score on one boundary. NuScale’s structural case includes being the only U.S. NRC design-certified small modular reactor developer. Management cites more than 60 specialized supply-chain partners and over 30 executed agreements. Commercialization partner ENTRA1 is discussing a definitive power purchase agreement with TVA that could become the largest U.S. nuclear deployment program. NuScale ended the second quarter of 2026 with $1.9 billion in cash and investments. Oklo cites a roughly 14 GW customer pipeline, including a 12 GW Switch master power agreement and a 500 MW Equinix letter of intent with a $25 million prepayment. It targets first commercial power in late 2027 to early 2028 at Idaho National Laboratory. Its Aurora design has been scaled from 50 MW to up to 75 MW for data-center demand, while Atomic Alchemy revenue could begin as early as 2026. Centrus, with actual revenue and a $4.5 billion backlog, provides fuel-side context and exposure to SWU pricing. Sustained URA strength through Wednesday and Thursday, followed by Centrus confirmation, would be stronger evidence than one session. Investors should use tight risk controls: sharp two- or three-day rallies can occur within larger downtrends.