NuScale Power: 1 Catalyst That Will Make or Break This Nuclear Stock

NuScale Power: 1 Catalyst That Will Make or Break This Nuclear Stock

Ryan Vanzo, The Motley Fool

Wed, September 9, 2026 at 6:43 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• SMR -3.76%
• NVDA -0.75%

The artificial intelligence (AI) boom is fueling a nuclear renaissance. For the industry to grow, massive amounts of energy-intensive compute power will need to be built. As a low-carbon, high-baseload energy source, nuclear power is a promising solution.

NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) is the only small modular reactor (SMR) developer in the U.S. approved by regulators to construct an SMR facility. SMRs are ideal for the AI data center build-out, given that they can be built more quickly and at a lower cost than conventional nuclear plants. This smaller footprint allows an SMR to be constructed near the data center infrastructure itself.

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Despite growth potential, NuScale shares are down 40% this year. Skepticism is reasonable. Only two SMR systems currently exist worldwide. NuScale has never commercialized any of its SMR designs. Plus, the company already experienced a sizable failure in 2023 when its biggest customer (at the time) canceled its project.

While NuScale operates in an industry that should see long-term growth, the nuclear stock's future may hinge on a single upcoming catalyst.

This catalyst could make or break NuScale Power stock

NuScale's technology has already been approved by U.S. regulators. The company is now waiting for a customer to commit financially to building an SMR system. NuScale already signed a non-binding deal with its financing partner, ENTRA1, and a major U.S. utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), for a 6-gigawatt SMR facility. The deal is non-binding, however, allowing the partners to pull out at any time -- a risk that NuScale has faced in the past.

The next step is for the TVA to sign a power purchase agreement, or PPA. That would commit the utility to buying long-term power from the project.

If secured, a PPA would validate NuScale's SMR designs, its go-to market strategy, and its ability to convert non-binding deals into revenue-generating projects. NuScale's CFO wants to get a deal done by the end of 2026. The signing of a PPA -- or the inability to do so -- should have a massive impact on NuScale's stock price, as well as its long-term future.

Should you buy stock in NuScale Power right now?

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Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

NuScale Power: 1 Catalyst That Will Make or Break This Nuclear Stock was originally published by The Motley Fool