NuScale: A Reactor of Hope and Despair

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NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR). The name itself… a promise of scaled solutions, of taming the atom for a new age. Yet, the market, that capricious beast, has seen fit to cast it down from its fleeting zenith of $57.42 (October 16th, 2025 – a date now echoing with the hollowness of unrealized ambition) to a mere $13. A fall of over 77%… a precipice from which few recover. One begins to wonder, is this a testament to technological promise, or merely another instance of humanity’s relentless capacity for disappointment?

The reasons, as always, are layered, a tangle of anxieties and miscalculations. The initial tremors stemmed from the absurd panic surrounding artificial intelligence – a bubble, they called it. A bubble! As if the relentless march of calculation and data processing were some transient fancy. NuScale, positioned to power these digital behemoths with its small modular reactors, became a casualty of this irrational fear. Oklo and Nano Nuclear Energy suffered alongside, victims of a collective hysteria. It’s a curious thing, how easily the promise of progress can be overshadowed by the specter of its potential excess.

November brought further blows. The quarterly earnings report… a confession of loss, a stark admission of financial frailty. A loss of $1.85 per share, against an expected $0.11. The weight of expectation, the relentless pressure to deliver… it crushes all but the most resilient of souls. And then, as if to administer the final indignity, the authorization to double the share count – a dilution of value, a desperate attempt to stay afloat. One cannot help but feel a pang of sympathy, even as one recognizes the inherent risks.

But the true despair arrived with the announcement of Fluor’s divestment. Fluor, a long-time supporter, abandoning ship. A chilling demonstration of the cold calculus of capital. Loyalty, it seems, is a luxury few can afford. It forces one to confront the uncomfortable truth: in the realm of finance, there are no true friends, only temporary alliances forged in the pursuit of profit.

Yet, to pronounce this a death knell would be premature. There remains a flicker of hope, a fragile possibility of redemption. The key, as always, lies in securing a firm sale, a tangible commitment to the technology. And on that front, there is…progress.

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The agreement with Nuclearelectrica in Romania is the most promising development. A Final Investment Decision has been reached, paving the way for the construction of a six-module SMR plant, aiming for operation in 2033. Seven years… a lifetime in the volatile world of high technology. For the impatient investor, it is an eternity. But perhaps, for those with the fortitude to endure, it represents a genuine opportunity.

However, let us not delude ourselves. NuScale remains a highly speculative venture, a gamble on a future that is far from certain. It is a stock for those who can stomach volatility, for those who are willing to embrace risk. For the more cautious investor, a nuclear energy exchange-traded fund may prove to be a more prudent course. One must remember, the pursuit of innovation is rarely a straight line. It is a path fraught with peril, with setbacks, with the constant threat of failure. But it is also a path that, if navigated with skill and courage, can lead to extraordinary rewards. And in the end, is that not what we are all searching for – a glimmer of hope in the darkness, a reason to believe in a better future?

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2026-02-24 19:32