Is NuScale Power Stock a Buy Now?

The rapid deployment of data centers for artificial intelligence has revived nuclear power as a viable electricity source in the United States. NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) sits in a unique position as the only nuclear energy stock with a small modular reactor (SMR) design approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Small nuclear reactors offer exciting investment potential because they are less expensive, easier to build, and more compact than traditional nuclear reactors. Yet, NuScale Power stock hasn't fared well, declining by nearly 40% over the past year.

Is the stock a buy now? Here is why investors may struggle to pull the trigger here.

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Nuclear energy is a tricky business, which is weighing on NuScale Power

NuScale Power currently has the only SMR design with U.S. regulatory approval. Its SMR design can expand to 12 modules, capable of generating 924 megawatts of carbon-free electricity.

In May 2025, President Donald Trump signed executive orders calling for increased construction of new and existing reactors to quadruple U.S. nuclear power generation capacity by 2050. Later that year, the Tennessee Valley Authority signed an agreement with ENTRA1 for up to 6 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity using NuScale's SMR plants. It's the largest SMR agreement signed to date, enough electricity to power roughly 60 data centers.

Unfortunately, the nuclear industry is extraordinarily regulated. Things move very slowly due to all of the red tape, and that appears to be dragging on NuScale's first-mover advantage in SMR technology.

NuScale has been planning a six-module plant for a customer in Romania since 2021, its primary business prospect aside from its new deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority. That customer only recently gave final approval for the first module, which won't begin commercial operations until July 2033, followed by the completed plant in December 2034. That timeline prompted TD Cowen analyst Marc Bianchi to downgrade NuScale Power stock, prompting a recent sell-off.

Therefore, it's hard to get too excited about the Tennessee Valley Authority agreement, because it will have to jump through similar hoops before NuScale Power sees any notable payoff. It could literally take years.

No near-term commercial deployment makes buying the stock more difficult

The stock is quite expensive at its current market capitalization of $4.3 billion, given its trailing-12-month revenue of just $64 million from design and engineering work, and no commercially operating SMR module on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the global SMR market is estimated to grow only to $8.2 billion by 2035, according to Spherical Insights. That's likely a reflection of how slow the nuclear industry moves, though that may accelerate over the years as SMR deployments roll out and technology improves.

Sure, the Tennessee Valley Authority deal has a ton of eventual upside, but it still has a very long way to go before becoming something investors can count on. The Romania deployment is also years away now. NuScale Power stock is currently a lottery ticket at best, so it's difficult to muster the conviction to buy shares.

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