By Jurica Dujmovic
NuScale Power has the government support, the technology and the financial backing to succeed. Will that be enough?
NuScale offers exposure to what could be a transformative energy technology – if you can stomach the stock’s volatility.
Nuclear power is having its moment again. After decades in the wilderness, small modular reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a potentially transformative technology, backed by close to $1 billion in new U.S. federal funding and surging demand from AI data centers hungry for clean, reliable electricity.
At the center of this renaissance sits NuScale Power (SMR) – the only company with a U.S.-approved SMR design. Its stock has become a proxy for investors betting on the nuclear future – and judging by its 32% gain in the past month, optimism is high.
First to market, but is that enough?
NuScale’s competitive moat stems from a hard-won regulatory victory. In May, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the Oregon-based company’s uprated 77-megawatt reactor design, the second SMR design ever cleared by U.S. regulators. The plant design retains the safety features that made NuScale’s technology attractive to regulators – natural convection cooling and passive safety systems – while boosting power density through larger individual modules. Each upgraded module produces 77 megawatts compared to the original 50-megawatt design, with six-module plants generating 462 megawatts total.
NuScale is now the only SMR developer with an NRC-approved design ready for deployment. Technically it’s a “standard design approval” – one step below full certification – but it provides the regulatory foundation utilities need to reference the design in license applications and move forward with concrete project planning. This matters less than the practical advantage: NuScale can offer customers a pre-vetted design while competitors are still navigating the complex approval process.
This regulatory head start isn’t trivial. In an industry where licensing can take longer than actual construction, having preapproved designs positions NuScale as an early contender for the U.S. Department of Energy’s new $900 million SMR funding program. The DOE initiative, reissued in March, aims to support up to two first-mover SMR projects with $800 million in funding, while allocating another $100 million for broader industry support.
Financial reality
For all its technological promise, NuScale remains a pre-revenue company navigating the expensive transition from research to commercialization.
For all its technological promise, NuScale remains a pre-revenue company navigating the expensive transition from research to commercialization. In the nuclear industry context, this means the company doesn’t yet earn income from electricity sales or operating plants, though it is beginning to generate revenue from engineering services and licensing fees for early-stage SMR projects. The first quarter of 2025 offered glimpses of this developmental progress: revenue jumped nearly nine-fold to $13.4 million from just $1.4 million a year earlier, driven by initial technology sales and engineering work for Romania’s first SMR plant.
Losses remain substantial. NuScale posted a $35 million operating loss in the first quarter of 2025, a decrease from the prior year as R&D spending eased. More encouraging for investors is NuScale’s financial runway. As of March 31, the company held about $492 million in cash and equivalents, plus $30 million in short-term investments. This war chest was bolstered by a $102 million stock sale in the first quarter of this year, providing what management estimates is more than three years of runway at current burn rates.
Moreover, federal backing runs deep. The DOE has provided more than $575 million to support NuScale’s SMR development to date – an extraordinary level of public investment that underpins the company’s financial position and validates its technology approach.
Volatile stock in an uncertain business
NuScale’s stock performance tells the story of an industry caught between promise and uncertainty. After going public via a SPAC in 2022, NuScale shares languished before skyrocketing 445% in 2024. The momentum continued into 2025, with the stock doubling in weeks and gaining 120.6% in the first six months of the year.
NuScale’s market capitalization tops $13 billion – remarkable for a company with no operating plants. The primary catalyst has been policy momentum, particularly Trump’s aggressive pro-nuclear stance. A flurry of executive orders in May 2025 directed regulators to expedite reactor licensing and designated AI data centers as “critical defense facilities” requiring advanced reactor power. This enthusiastic federal endorsement sent NuScale and other nuclear stocks soaring.
A U.S. setback is a cautionary tale
NuScale’s journey hasn’t been without setbacks. The collapse of its first planned U.S. project – a six-module plant canceled in late 2023 – serves as a reminder that interest doesn’t equal investment. Cost estimates for that project ballooned 53%, to $89 from $58 per megawatt-hour, prompting several municipal utility participants to withdraw and ultimately killing the venture.
This experience underscores the cost risk inherent in first-of-a-kind nuclear projects. While SMRs promise economies of scale through factory fabrication and modular construction, these benefits remain theoretical until proven in practice. The hope is that standardized manufacturing will drive down costs, but early projects inevitably face the learning-curve premium that comes with pioneering technology.
NuScale has pivoted from that U.S. disappointment to pursue international opportunities that could serve as crucial proof-of-concept projects. The company’s flagship overseas venture in Romania is moving forward, with engineering design work underway for a six-module, 462-megawatt plant at Doicesti. Groundbreaking is expected by 2027, targeting operation around 2030 in partnership with Romanian utility Nuclearelectrica (RO:SNN).
The Romanian project could become the first operational NuScale SMR in the world, providing powerful validation for other potential customers. Success there would demonstrate that NuScale’s design works as advertised and create a template for international export of U.S. nuclear technology.
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NuScale has also forged a manufacturing partnership with South Korean conglomerate Doosan (KR:000150) to produce the first 12 reactor modules, addressing supply-chain concerns that have plagued other nuclear projects.
Racing for the lead
While NuScale enjoys its regulatory head start, competition is intensifying. For example, GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy – a joint-venture between GE Vernova (GEV) and Japan’s Hitachi (JP:6501) (HTHIY)- is leveraging decades of experience with a small modular reactor now under construction in Canada. The project is expected to be completed in 2028; its success could quickly erode NuScale’s first-mover advantage.
Meanwhile, privately held companies such as Holtec International and X-energy are also pursuing aggressive strategies, with X-energy securing Amazon.com (AMZN) as a strategic backer for five gigawatts worth of new SMRs by 2039. These partnerships with tech giants underscore the growing nexus between cloud computing and nuclear power that could drive demand.
For investors, timing is everything
The next 18 months will be crucial for NuScale.
For investors, NuScale represents both the promise and peril of betting on transformative technology. The company sits at the intersection of several powerful trends: surging electricity demand from AI, federal commitment to nuclear and corporate appetite for clean power. NuScale CEO John Hopkins has indicated a goal of securing the first “tier 1” customer by the end of 2025, potentially a utility or data-center consortium, to keep the timeline of delivering a plant by 2030 intact.
The next 18 months will be crucial for NuScale. Success in landing DOE funding, signing concrete customer contracts and maintaining project timelines could validate the stock’s premium valuation. Conversely, delays, cost overruns or losing ground to competitors could trigger significant downside.
The investment case ultimately rests on execution. NuScale has the regulatory approval, the technology and the financial backing to succeed. Whether management can convert its head start into operating plants and sustained profitability is the defining question for investors willing to bet on nuclear power’s next chapter.
With the first SMRs potentially online by the end of this decade, NuScale offers exposure to what could be a transformative energy technology – provided investors can stomach the inherent volatility of pioneering an entirely new nuclear sector.
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-Jurica Dujmovic
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