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The Atomic Steppe TALES FROM THE EMERGING WORLD | EMERGING MARKETS EQUITY TEAM | September 2026

Nuclear power was a growing source of energy in the United AUTHORS

States and globally through the 1960s and 1970s. However, given rising upfront costs and safety concerns, including the PAUL PSAILA 1979 Three Mile Island accident and 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Co-Head of Emerging Market Equities nuclear fell out of favor. From the mid-1980s to 2025, the share of global electricity production from nuclear dropped SEBASTIAN SCHAFER from 16% to 9% (Display 1). Senior Associate, Emerging Market Equities DISPLAY 1 Electricity Has Been Less Reliant on Nuclear Power Nuclear share of total electricity globally

Source: Our World in Data. As of June 30, 2026.

Nuclear power is experiencing a renaissance driven by two key factors:

1. An increased demand for electricity to power artificial intelligence (AI).

2. A renewed focus on energy security and governmental support.

Approximately 100 new nuclear plants are currently planned worldwide, nearly matching the total number built over the last 20 years.

We believe Kazakhstan will be one of the largest beneficiaries of the apparent revival of nuclear energy. The country is the world’s largest uranium producer, supported by abundant reserves, low-cost, efficient mining techniques and geopolitical neutrality. Rising demand for nuclear should support the price of uranium and production volumes. In fact, Kazakhstan currently controls roughly 40% of the world’s uranium production, greater than OPEC’s share of the global oil supply.

The Atom Behind the Algorithm Old objections still matter. Nuclear power requires AI has dramatically changed the power debate. In September significant upfront capital, but its economics become 2024, Constellation Energy, a large U.S. producer of clean stronger once energy density, storage and transmission energy, signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with costs are considered. Efficiency measures that compare Microsoft to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1. The energy supplied with energy used, rank nuclear ahead of symbolism was hard to miss. The old reactor, shut down in coal, natural gas, wind and solar.5 2019 due to unprofitability, was revived to meet data center Energy Nationalism demand. AI has shifted the debate, because training and running inference on massive models requires an incredible For much of the past decade, the case for energy transition amount of reliable energy. rested on the desire to minimize emissions. Now, there is a shift in priorities: the focus is moving from decarbonization Last year, a single ChatGPT query consumed approximately toward an emphasis on resilience, security and sovereignty. 0.3 watt-hours per message.1 A billion of these queries Countries want clean power, but they also want to be everyday annually means 109 gigawatt-hours, or enough less exposed to volatile hydrocarbon markets. Conflicts in power for 10,400 U.S. homes. 2 Models are increasingly Ukraine and the Middle East have highlighted the need for incorporating images and videos which require even energy systems without dependency on strategic rivals and more energy per query. Additionally, heavier reasoning geopolitically volatile regions. capabilities and the advent of AI agents will be a further multiplier on memory, computing and power demands. Unlike wind and solar, nuclear is the only source of clean Estimates vary, but heavier reasoning tasks could consume power that does not depend on weather conditions; it also around 43 times more energy than simple tasks. 3 All of has a long refueling cycle, typically around 18 months, and these developments point to more compute (i.e., resources is in line with nearshoring industrial policies. In essence, for training and deploying AI) and therefore, more power. nuclear gives governments something more important than costs: control. A nuclear-powered country is not Data centers already account for half of the electricity beholden to weather, sudden market fluctuations or demand growth in the U.S.4 For hyperscalers, the issue is energy boycotts initiated by rivals. not only the quantity of electricity, but also its quality. Data…