Sohn Conference Foundation · · 8 min
Dan Dreyfus pitches Mirion Technologies at Sohn 2025
TL;DR
- Dan Dreyfus's setup: the world's deepest pockets — big tech, manufacturers, and governments — are "all in panic mode" because most have no idea where their next gigawatt will come from. Fabs, gigafactories, steel mills, data centers, electric AV fleets, and heat-pump conversions are all increasing demand. Even a conservative stress test that strips AI entirely out of demand forecasts still leaves power markets in deficit, because "the world's going electric." "We're going to be measuring human progress by how much electricity we consume."
- The pitch: Mirion Technologies, because "there's no nuclear power cycle without Mirion." It dominates radiation detection — mandatory, heavily regulated, and the backbone of safety in an industry that "simply cannot afford to have another accident" post-Three Mile Island and Fukushima. "Rule number one at nuclear is safety, and rule number two, don't forget rule number one."
- The model: 70% recurring revenue, usually lasting for the 80-100 year life of a plant — non-discretionary, "effectively recession-proof." Three earnings drivers: existing nukes running harder than ever, life extensions and restarts ("Microsoft Azure brought to you by Three Mile Island"), and a new-build cycle. Dreyfus also cited news that the Trump administration is considering an executive order to quadruple America's nuclear fleet to 400 GW by 2050, at a probable $3-5 trillion cost.
- The numbers: around a buck and a quarter of earnings in 2029, a 25x multiple at the low end of the 25-30x industrial-compounder range, putting the stock in the low $30s by end-2028 versus about $17 today — with acceleration into the 2030s as new builds heat up. "One of these buy-and-never-sell" investments. Comp: Goldman's other SPAC from the group Dreyfus used to work for, Vertiv, a nine-bagger — Mirion "has got what it takes to give Vertiv a run for its money."
- The moderator's pushback: political winds shift — Biden killed Keystone on day one; what happens if Congress flips in 18 months or the White House in three and a half years? Dreyfus's answer is arithmetic, not politics: a Google search runs a 100W bulb for 3 seconds, an AI search 2-3 minutes, and an agentic conversation 8-9 minutes. Nuclear is the only way to scale AI, semiconductor fabs, life sciences facilities, and gigafactories without "an obscene amount of greenhouse gases," and "the rest of the solutions are basically semifraudulent." He cited the Sierra Club changing its tune after 50 years on nuclear and saying nuclear is great; he called the shift "structural and permanent," with both sides of the aisle leaning into nuclear.
Digest · the substance, structured for research
1. The power deficit holds even if the AI bulls are wrong
- Dreyfus's opening gambit: big tech, manufacturers, and governments planning fabs, gigafactories, steel mills, and data centers "have no idea where they're going to get their next gigawatt of power from" — with electric AV fleets and heat-pump conversions piling on.
- His stress test defuses the post-"DeepSeek Monday" AI-demand debate: strip AI out of forecasts entirely and "power markets are still going to be in deficit," because "the world's going electric." The US risks falling behind China, which has built a state-of-the-art grid for 20 years "while here in the US, we've been basically doing nothing."
2. Mirion is the mandatory tollbooth on nuclear safety
- The unequivocal claim: "There's no nuclear power cycle without Mirion Technologies." Radiation detection is heavily regulated, mandatory, and the backbone of safety — "safety first, safety last, and safety always."
- The business model he loves: 70% recurring revenue, usually lasting for the 80-100 year life of a plant — predictable, non-discretionary, and "effectively recession-proof."
- Policy tailwind, dated: news that this past Sunday the Trump administration was considering an executive order to quadruple America's nuclear fleet to 400 GW by 2050 — "probably 3 to 5 trillion," but "strategically mandatory."
3. Three ways to get paid, and a buck-and-a-quarter by 2029
- The earnings algorithm: existing nukes running "as hard as they've ever run" and generating more demand for Mirion as they get paid more; restarts and life extensions ("Microsoft Azure brought to you by Three Mile Island" — a deal he'd have called "not a chance" five years ago); and "a big nuclear new-build cycle coming to a theater near you."
- Valuation: around a buck and a quarter of earnings in 2029, 25x (the low end of the 25-30x industrial-growth range) → low $30s by end-2028 versus about $17 today, compounding into the 2040s. Comp: the other Goldman SPAC, Vertiv, a nine-bagger. "Buy and never sell."
4. The Keystone question — and the lightbulb answer
- The moderator's pushback, worth keeping: nuclear has "certainly caught a bid," but Biden killed the multibillion-dollar, multistate Keystone pipeline on day one — how do you quantify the risk of Congress flipping in 18 months or the White House in three and a half years?
- Dreyfus answers with arithmetic: a Google search is a 100W bulb for 3 seconds, an AI search 2-3 minutes, and an agentic conversation 8-9 minutes. Nuclear is the only way to scale AI, semiconductor fabs, life sciences facilities, and gigafactories without "an obscene amount of greenhouse gases"; "the rest of the solutions are basically semifraudulent."
- His evidence the shift is durable: the Sierra Club changed its tune after 50 years on nuclear and said nuclear is great. He called it "a structural and permanent perception shift where both sides of the aisle are going to be leaning into nuclear in a big way."