NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) has shed roughly 85% of its value since last July, raising eyebrows among investors watching the advanced nuclear sector closely.
Despite that steep decline, the company remains the only advanced nuclear firm with a small modular reactor design certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, giving it a significant regulatory head start over competitors.
That NRC-approved design has positioned NuScale to pursue what could become the largest SMR deployment program in U.S. history, a power plant of up to 6 gigawatts across TVA’s seven-state service territory.
The company is working through its commercial partner, ENTRA1, to advance those talks, and a binding agreement could see NuScale deploy around 72 Power Modules for the project.
NuScale is also pursuing a planned 462 megawatt-electric plant in Doicesti, Romania, which would use six of the company’s Power Modules, with the first module potentially entering commercial operation in 2033.
That 2033 timeline underscores the central reality for anyone considering an investment in SMR shares today: this is not a short-term trade by any measure.
Investors focused on the next five years are likely looking at the wrong time horizon, given the pace at which the nuclear energy industry typically develops and commercialises new technology.
Those willing to extend their outlook to 10 or even 15 years align themselves with the actual operational timeline of nuclear projects, which is where the meaningful return potential for NuScale begins to emerge.
Even after its dramatic slide, NuScale carries a market capitalisation of around $3 billion against approximately $18.7 million in trailing-12-month revenue, placing the stock at roughly 160 times trailing sales.
That valuation is not cheap by conventional measures, and the company still has substantial milestones to achieve before commercial revenue begins to flow at scale.
However, a persistently bearish attitude from Wall Street toward advanced nuclear could allow patient investors to gradually build a position at lower prices over time.
NuScale’s first-mover advantage in the SMR regulatory landscape remains a genuinely rare asset in an industry where regulatory approval alone can take years and significant capital to secure.
Near-term volatility in SMR shares is likely, and investors should enter with a clear understanding that material returns will depend on the successful execution of projects still years away from completion.
For those with the patience and conviction to stay invested across a full decade or longer, the current price weakness may represent one of the more compelling entry points the stock has offered.
