NuScale Power Stock Slumps Nearly 20% to Start 2026

By Leo Sun – Mar 13, 2026 at 12:21PM ESTKey PointsNuScale’s stock fizzled out this year.It won’t truly dazzle the market until it deploys its first SMRs.NuScale Power (SMR +0.34%), a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs) for nuclear power plants, has seen its stock decline nearly 20% year to date. It's also trading almost 80% below its record high of $53.43 from last October. Let's see why NuScale's stock fizzled out. What does NuScale Power do? NuScale's SMRs can fit in vessels that are only 65 feet high and nine feet wide, and they're prefabricated, modular, and assembled on site to reduce the costs of building a nuclear power plant. It's the only SMR maker that's earned Standard Design Approvals (SDAs) from the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which approved its 77 MWe SMR design last year. Image source: Getty Images. NuScale originally planned to deploy six of its 77 MWe SMRs to build a 462 MWe nuclear plant in Idaho, but it scrapped that ambitious project amid skyrocketing costs in 2023. Today, NuScale is working as a subcontractor to Fluor (FLR 1.13%) to build a similar 462 MWe plant for Romania's RoPower, and it generates most of its revenue from front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for that project. That project recently received its final investment decision (FID), but it doesn't expect to deploy the first reactors until the early 2030s. NuScale will also return to the U.S. with a new agreement to deploy up to six gigawatts of SMR capacity across seven states for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). However, those reactors won't come online until 2032. So, until NuScale actually deploys its first SMRs, it will generate most of its revenue from FEED studies, additional licensing deals, and converting its memorandums of understanding (MOUs) into binding, revenue-generating contracts. ExpandNYSE: SMRNuScale PowerToday's Change(0.34%) $0.04Current Price$11.80Key Data PointsMarket Cap$3.8BDay's Range$11.54 - $12.2652wk Range$11.08 - $57.42Volume15MAvg Vol26MGross Margin33.84% What challenges does NuScale face? From 2025 to 2028, analysts expect NuScale's revenue to surge from $31.5 million to $286.8 million as it gradually narrows its net losses. That growth should be driven by the rapid expansion of the power-hungry cloud, AI, and data center markets. Yet with a market cap of $3.75 billion, NuScale already trades at 13 times its projected 2028 revenue. NuScale might deserve that premium valuation today if it successfully deploys its first reactors in the early 2030s. Still, the collapse of its Idaho project and other delays suggest that many things could go wrong over the next few years. As the intensifying military conflicts across the Middle East, inflation, and other macro headwinds rattle the markets, many investors are rotating away from speculative stocks like NuScale and toward more conservative investments. That pressure could persist for the foreseeable future, weighing down NuScale's volatile stock. Read NextMar 12, 2026 •By Ryan VanzoWhere Will NuScale Power Stock Be in 10 Years?Mar 11, 2026 •By Courtney CarlsenIs NuScale Power Stock a Buy Now?Mar 10, 2026 •By James BrumleyCould Investing $10,000 in NuScale Power Make You a Millionaire?Mar 10, 2026 •By Reuben Gregg BrewerEurope's First NuScale-Powered Modular Reactor Project Is Coming. Here's What Investors Need to Know.Mar 9, 2026 •By Steven PorrelloWhat Is One of the Best Nuclear Stocks to Hold For the Next 10 Years?Mar 8, 2026 •By Neha ChamariaWhy NuScale Power Stock Plunged in February and Could Fall FurtherAbout the AuthorLeo Sun is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst who has worked with the company since 2013, covering technology, consumer goods, industrial, and financial sectors. He became a self-made millionaire by age 40 through long-term investing, crediting lessons from Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. Leo is a regular guest on CNBC Asia providing stock analysis on Chinese technology companies, including Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba. He previously wrote for InvestorGuide and holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin.TMFSunLionX@TMFSunLionStocks MentionedNuScale PowerNYSE: SMR$11.80(+0.34%)+$0.04FluorNYSE: FLR$42.99(-1.13%)-$0.49*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.