Advanced nuclear developer NuScale Power Corp. expects a "firm customer order" for its small modular nuclear reactor technology in 2025, executives said May 12.
NuScale is in discussions with government officials and industries, including datacenters, utilities, coal plant operators looking to transition to nuclear, and petrochemical and energy companies, President and CEO John L. Hopkins said during a first-quarter earnings call.
"Of these customer discussions, I would classify upwards of 10 as 'advanced,' many of which have progressed to the point of multiple iterations of term sheets exchanged between parties," Hopkins said.
Some customer negotiations are so advanced that NuScale is organizing customer site visits to the Doosan Enerbility Co. Ltd. manufacturing facilities in South Korea where NuScale power modules are being built. NuScale now has 12 total modules in production, with six planned for its Romania project. The company is working on long-lead materials for those units.
NuScale is "no longer chasing" memorandums of understanding, Hopkins said, adding that he is headed to South Korea in June with customers who want to visit the facilities building the company's small modular reactor (SMR) components and "touch steel and see our modules online and in production."
"This is going to be a pivotal year," Hopkins continued.
NuScale's discussions with customers include power purchase agreement negotiations, and the company is "working diligently on getting that done," Hopkins said.
"Can we do 2030? Yes, if we get closure on a deal here soon," Hopkins said of a timeline to deliver modules. "If we don't do that, it gets pushed out to 2031."
NuScale expects to recover about 25% of the cost of the modules it has under construction in the first year and "it'll be pivotal in terms of pushing our balance sheet and our cash flow towards a cash-flow positive position," CFO Ramsey Hamady said.
Asked how likely it may be that the first order comes from a tech company, Hopkins said, "It could very well be."
"We have nondisclosure agreements with the tier-ones on the AI side," Hopkins added. "They need a lot of energy. ... If they really, truly need power now, we are near-term deployable."
Even if the deal is not with a technology company directly, NuScale executives said one will be a likely offtaker.
"There's a number of entities that will be involved in announcing the first project and the tier-one AI datacenter, which we hope will be involved in the first project, will really be the power user versus the direct customer to NuScale who's buying the SMRs," Hamady said.
NuScale's manufacturer can produce up to 20 modules per year, Hopkins said, so NuScale is weighing how many orders it could handle at a time. But the company also is not getting ahead of itself.
"I just want to get one hard contract right now," Hopkins said. "One, to showcase to the world."
Getting the first contract "is difficult," Hamady said, "but we think there's going to be a lot of fast seconds."
NuScale expects the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve its standard design approval application, which aims to increase the power output per module from the previously approved 50 MW to 77 MW, by July.
NuScale's SMR design is so far the only one certified by the commission.
"We're still in a very good position to be the first mover," Hopkins said.
Results
Shares of NuScale were up more than 20% the day following its earnings call.
The company reported $13.4 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2025, up from $1.4 million in the first quarter of 2024.
That revenue increase was driven primarily by NuScale's Front End Engineering Design Phase 2 Project with Fluor Corp. and its technology license agreement for the RoPower Doicesti power plant in Romania.
Fluor is the majority owner of NuScale and spun off NuScale as an independent, publicly traded company in 2022 through a merger of NuScale into a special purpose acquisition company.
NuScale decreased operating expenses in the quarter from about $44.6 million to $42.3 million, and its operating losses narrowed from $44 million to $35.3 million.
The company ended the quarter with $521.4 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.
NuScale also sold 4.5 million shares through its at-the-market program in the quarter, generating $102.4 million in gross proceeds.
The company does not expect material impacts from US tariffs, Hopkins said.
