NuScale Power: 75% Crash, But Opportunity?
💡 Key Takeaway
NuScale Power's 75% decline reflects its failure to commercialize SMRs and waning AI enthusiasm, making it a high-risk bet for patient investors.
What Happened to NuScale Power?
NuScale Power (SMR) has seen its stock price plummet 75% over the past 12 months, from a peak in October 2025. The decline mirrors a broader pullback in nuclear energy stocks, with the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR) falling about 30% from its October high.
The primary reason for NuScale's sharp drop is that the company has never deployed a commercial small modular reactor (SMR). Despite being the first to certify an SMR design, it remains years away from generating revenue from actual projects.
Last year, NuScale rode a wave of enthusiasm for AI-driven power demand, as tech companies sought clean, reliable energy for data centers. However, that hype has faded amid fears of an AI bubble, and tech firms are turning to faster, cheaper solutions like Bloom Energy's fuel cells.
NuScale's two main projects—in Romania and with the Tennessee Valley Authority—are still in pre-development phases, with no concrete deployment expected until the 2030s. This long timeline has led investors to re-evaluate the stock's value.
Why It Matters for Investors
NuScale's 75% decline is a cautionary tale about hype vs. reality. The stock's valuation was built on future potential rather than current earnings, and when AI enthusiasm waned, the lack of tangible progress became impossible to ignore.
For the nuclear energy sector, this sell-off highlights the risks of investing in pre-revenue companies with long development cycles. NuScale's struggles could also dampen sentiment for other nuclear startups, even as the long-term need for clean baseload power remains.
Looking ahead, NuScale's success hinges on securing funding, regulatory approvals, and customers for its SMR technology. If it can deliver on its projects, the stock could rebound, but that's a big 'if' with a timeline stretching into the next decade.
Competitors like Bloom Energy (BE), which offers deployable fuel cells, are currently benefiting from the shift toward near-term solutions. Meanwhile, the NLR ETF reflects the broader market's cooling on nuclear power for now.
Source: The Motley Fool
Analysis generated by Bobby AI quantitative model, reviewed and edited by our research team. This is not financial advice. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.
Bobby Insight
Avoid NuScale Power until it demonstrates commercial viability with a working reactor.
The stock's 75% drop is justified by a lack of revenue and a long development timeline. Investors should wait for concrete project milestones, such as construction start or customer contracts, before considering an entry.
What This Means for Me
