Not for the first time this year, Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE -1.74%) stock was going somewhat nuclear over the past few trading sessions.
On news that a Senate committee desires changes in President Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" that favor the once-struggling industry, interest rose sharply in nuclear stocks. Nano was a direct beneficiary of this; according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, its share price had ballooned by nearly 25% week to date as of Friday before market open.
Credit where credit is due
The bill is an ambitious budget reconciliation proposal that would reshape the federal budget. Early in the week, one new change floated by the Senate Finance Committee was an adjustment of the tax credits the feds provide to energy producers.
Image source: Getty Images.
Some power-generation technologies currently out of favor with the present administration would have their tax credit expiration dates brought forward, while others would be granted extensions. Happily for Nano investors, nuclear energy is in the latter category.
The committee is proposing that nuclear's energy production tax credit, currently set to be phased out on Dec. 31, 2032, have a new expiration date of Dec. 31, 2036.
The president has been active in his support for nuclear power, which in the recent past was largely shunned. Its reputational decline was due mostly to high-profile accidents such as the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, and the catastrophic 1986 meltdown of the Chernobyl plant located in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
More compromise in store?
Despite its very positive-sounding name, the "Big, Beautiful Bill" is controversial and contentious among both legislators and the U.S. public.
Given that, it's very possible that it will be hammered out through more compromises -- and these might lead lawmakers to rescind the nuclear tax credit extension idea. Still, the proposal currently on the table at least indicates continued strong, top-level support for nuclear power, and that can only help companies like Nano.
