NuScale Power (SMR) Q3 2026 earnings review
NuScale starts making reactor parts, but it has no order
NuScale, the US designer of small nuclear reactors, has started building hardware, but it still lacks a customer contract. Revenue came to $281,000, because the Romanian engineering work that filled last year's quarter has ended. Cash and investments stood at $1.9 billion. Chief executive John Hopkins said a deal with Korea's Doosan moves NuScale into manufacturing.
| Revenue | $281,000 $8.2 million a year ago |
|---|---|
| Operating costs, excluding the ENTRA1 payment | $65.0 million +41% from a year ago |
| Cash and investments | $1.86 billion $1.89 billion three months earlier |
| Company outlook | Spending flat no revenue or profit forecast |
⚖️ Verdict: 🔴 Bearish
The story got worse, because ENTRA1, NuScale's sales partner, still has no signed power contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal utility. Meanwhile NuScale signed a new programme to sell up to $750 million of shares, so more dilution may come before any order. One positive: cash leaving the business shrank to about $29 million, by our math.
The question now is whether ENTRA1 can turn its non-binding utility deal into a signed contract. A deal brings paid engineering work and, by our math, a $1.2 billion payment to ENTRA1; no deal leaves the new parts unsold. A signed contract by the fourth-quarter results would settle it.
🐂 Bull Case
Doosan Starts Making Parts for the First Module
NuScale designs small nuclear reactors, called power modules, and plans to sell them as equipment to plant builders. In October it hired Korea's Doosan Enerbility to make the upper reactor coolant system, which the company calls the most complex part of its first module. Its presentation said the deal moves the partnership "from preparation into production of the First Article".
The stock of parts shows how early this is, because long-lead materials, the forgings and tubing Doosan holds, rose just $1.1 million in the quarter. Finance chief Ramsey Hamady called the outlay "investments in inventory" that a future equipment sale would repay.
What to watch: the long-lead materials line in the fourth-quarter filing, due early next year. A clear rise would show that production work at Doosan has actually begun.
NuScale's Cash Outflow Shrank to $29 Million
NuScale has almost no revenue, so its cash and investments fund everything. The pile stood at $1.86 billion in September, $29 million below its June level.
By our math, cash used in operations came to about $29 million in the quarter. The first half used far more, because NuScale settled $260 million it owed ENTRA1, its exclusive sales partner. Finance chief Ramsey Hamady said the reactor designer has the cash to build modules before orders arrive.
One quarter does not set the pace, though. Contracts already signed still call for $110 million of payments in 2027, and the Doosan work will add to that bill over time.
What to watch: cash used in operations in the fourth quarter, reported early next year. A figure well below quarterly operating costs would show interest income still covering much of the gap.
Positives this quarter didn't test
Three strengths in the standing case drew comments on the call but no hard numbers. This quarter neither confirmed nor weakened them, and each item names the reading that would.
- Industrial heat: chief executive John Hopkins said NuScale is "cranking up marketing" to chemical makers and utilities; a signed industrial customer would confirm it.
- Regulatory lead: Hopkins said NuScale holds the only small reactor design approved by US regulators; a rival's approval would test it.
- Training centres: a 13th Energy Exploration centre, where students learn reactor controls, is on the way; centre revenue reached $258,000.
🐻 Bear Case
TVA Power Contract Still Unsigned After a Year
NuScale cannot sell modules on its own, because ENTRA1 holds the exclusive right to market them. In September of last year ENTRA1 signed a non-binding deal to build up to 6 gigawatts of plants for the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal utility.
"We are no longer simply designing and planning, we are manufacturing," chief executive John Hopkins said. The income statement does not show it yet. Services for power plants and modules brought in $23,000 in the quarter, against $8.0 million a year earlier. Hopkins also named "converting backlog into revenue" as a goal, yet NuScale reports no backlog.
That gap matters, because every revenue step waits on the power contract. Finance chief Ramsey Hamady said a power purchase agreement, or PPA, brings engineering and licensing work first. But "the PPA in itself is not the sale of modules", he added. Selling modules needs a separate equipment deal with ENTRA1. Asked for a timeline, Hopkins gave none: "It's been lengthy, we know."
What to watch: whether ENTRA1 and the utility sign the power contract before the fourth-quarter results early next year. A signature would start the engineering work that is NuScale's nearest source of revenue.
TVA Deal Would Trigger a $1.2 Billion Payment
Under its deal with ENTRA1, NuScale pays its sales partner in three steps as a project advances. The first step cost $507 million, after ENTRA1 signed only a non-binding agreement. That payment equals 15% of the total, so by our math the second step comes to about $1.2 billion.
ENTRA1 earns the second step when it signs a binding power contract, the same event NuScale needs for revenue. By our math that payment would take 64% of today's cash and investments. The reactor designer also signed a new programme in August to sell up to $750 million of shares.
What to watch: whether NuScale sells shares under the new programme in the fourth quarter, shown in the next filing. Sales before a signed contract would mean the partner payment and the build-out need fresh money.
Shareholder Lawsuits Over ENTRA1 Now Number Three
ENTRA1 holds the exclusive right to sell NuScale's modules and full discretion over whether to buy them. A class action filed in February says NuScale and its leaders misled investors about ENTRA1's "experience, qualifications and capabilities as a developer of nuclear power plants".
In October another shareholder filed a derivative suit, a claim made on the company's behalf against its directors, on the same facts. A similar suit from March sits on hold. NuScale asked the court in September to dismiss the class action and says it cannot estimate any loss.
What to watch: the judge's decision on dismissal, after NuScale files its reply by December 16. A dismissal would remove the main public challenge to the record of the partner NuScale depends on.
Risks this quarter didn't answer
Several standing concerns got no new numbers in these results. Each item below names the disclosure that would move it, and none of them arrived this quarter.
- Romania: chief executive John Hopkins has asked to meet the new government about the RoPower plant; a signed pre-construction contract would move it.
- Module prices and margins: still unpublished; finance chief Ramsey Hamady said a first order would bring "further clarity on margins".
- Supplier agreements: NuScale cited "more than half of suppliers" but dropped last quarter's count of 30; a higher count would move it.
- ENTRA1's funding: no detail on how the partner will pay for a 6-gigawatt build; a named lender would move it.
- Fixed fees: NuScale still owes ENTRA1 $34.8 million a year for sales and marketing, signed project or not.
👓 Other Themes
Hopkins Says NuScale Does Not Depend on Data Centres
Asked how a slowdown in data-centre spending would hit demand, chief executive John Hopkins said it is "probably too early to tell" and added "we're not reliant on data centers". He pointed to process heat, utilities and support for nuclear from both US parties. NuScale's filing cites a federal goal of nearly quadrupling US nuclear capacity by 2050.
NuScale Reorganised Around Delivering Projects
NuScale said it "Realigned supply chain management and production delivery to function as a project delivery organization" and restructured engineering. From 2027, its top executives will judge spending mainly by labour costs. Those reached $32.6 million in the quarter, up 47% from a year ago. Finance chief Ramsey Hamady said NuScale kept engineers after the Romanian work ended.
💲 Other KPIs
Interest on NuScale's cash and bonds more than tripled from a year ago, to $19.1 million. It now covers 29% of operating costs, by our math. That share stood at 22% last quarter and 12% a year earlier, because the reactor designer holds far more cash and bonds after its share sales, the filing said.
Deferred revenue, cash customers have paid for work not yet done, slipped to $631,000 from $753,000 in June. It peaked at $1.7 million in March. The only order book that customers fund keeps shrinking, so revenue has little to draw on until a new contract arrives.
Receivables nearly doubled since December, to $15.8 million. Interest owed on NuScale's bonds makes up $14.9 million of that. Money owed by customers therefore comes to under $1 million by our math, which matches a business with almost no sales.
🔮 Guidance
New. Finance chief Ramsey Hamady said spending should stay "fairly constant" near this quarter's $65.0 million, though NuScale sets no formal targets. By our math, a flat fourth quarter still sits about 8% above last year's $60.3 million, excluding the ENTRA1 payment. Costs rose because NuScale kept its engineers after the Romanian work ended. Spending on Doosan parts will sit on the balance sheet instead.
❓ Key Questions
When will ENTRA1 and the TVA sign the power contract?
Every revenue step NuScale described waits on that contract. Management offered no date and no list of open issues on the call, and the non-binding deal is now more than a year old.
How will NuScale pay the second ENTRA1 payment?
By our math the payment due on a binding power contract is about $1.2 billion. NuScale has not said when it falls due, or how equipment payments from ENTRA1 would offset it.
Will NuScale sell shares before any contract is signed?
The company signed a new $750 million share-sale programme in August but sold nothing in the quarter. Investors need to know what would prompt it to use the programme.
What did Romania's new government tell NuScale?
Hopkins planned to meet the new government about the six-module RoPower plant. On the call he said a meeting request had gone out and that NuScale knows nothing more.
How many suppliers have now signed agreements?
Last quarter NuScale gave a count of 30 signed agreements. This quarter it said only "more than half of suppliers", so investors cannot tell whether the supply base grew.