NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) is a nuclear technology company with big ambitions. In a nutshell, it wants to disrupt the nuclear energy industry by selling small modular reactors (SMRs). These small reactors are designed to be deployed in groups of up to 12 modules for a total output of up to 924 megawatts of electricity.
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Unlike a traditional nuclear power plant, which could take a decade or longer to finish, NuScale’s SMRs are designed to be assembled in a factory and shipped to project sites. This would not only cut down on time and costs but also make it easier to deploy nuclear power in places that lack the infrastructure for a traditional power plant.
Data centers, industrial sites, and AI facilities are all potential customers for the kind of continuous power an SMR can supply.
Of course, NuScale isn’t alone in the small nuclear reactor space. Oklo and Nano Nuclear Energy are competing for the same business. But NuScale does have first-mover advantage: It’s the only company to have an SMR design certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
First-mover advantage is one thing, but securing a first customer is quite another, and right now, NuScale has yet to operate a reactor commercially. While it’s advancing projects in Romania and Tennessee, the lack of commercial revenue is still concerning.
Still, the company has policy tailwinds from the White House, which wants to quadruple U.S. nuclear capacity in the coming decades. Electricity demands are also likely to surge — data centers are power hungry — and novel energy technology like NuScale’s will be needed to make up where the grid falls short.
NuScale carries a $6 billion market capitalization, which is sizable for a company with minimal revenue today. But if it can start selling SMRs at scale, today’s valuation could look more reasonable in retrospect. Execution risks remain, but the urgency around power generation seems strong enough that NuScale’s technology will likely have multiple chances to prove itself.
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