NuScale Power’s AI data center strategy faces a critical test as negotiations with the Tennessee Valley Authority approach.

NuScale Power holds a distinction no other American company can claim: its small modular reactor design is the only one with full U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification. That regulatory moat sounds formidable until you examine the revenue line, which remains essentially zero. The gap between certification and commercialization is where NuScale’s entire investment thesis lives or dies. As of June 30, 2026, the pre-revenue company held $1.9 billion in cash and investments with zero debt on its books, betting heavily on a single power deal that could reshape American nuclear energy.

NuScale’s exclusive partner, ENTRA1 Energy, is currently negotiating a power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority that could unlock what would amount to the largest nuclear deployment program in U.S. history. The target is 6–8 gigawatts of capacity spread across multiple plants. A signed PPA would convert NuScale from a speculative technology play into a company with contracted future revenue. Without that agreement, NuScale remains a firm with $1.9 billion slowly depleting in the bank and a promise that reactors will eventually get built.

The earliest reactor modules are not expected to come online until the early 2030s, meaning investors face years before any meaningful revenue materializes. NuScale’s Power Module design can deliver up to 924 megawatts of capacity from a 12-module plant sitting on just 40 acres of land. That compact footprint is a key selling point for data center operators seeking reliable baseload power but unable to wait for massive traditional nuclear plants to clear decade-long construction timelines.

NuScale recently posted a 9.8% single-day stock gain after announcing it had deployed artificial intelligence tools internally that cut engineering information search times by 80%. The broader demand signal for advanced nuclear is undeniable: Microsoft has signed a deal to restart Three Mile Island, Amazon has invested in small modular reactor development, and Google inked an agreement with Kairos Power. NuScale is positioning itself to capture a meaningful share of this expanding market.

Beyond domestic negotiations, NuScale’s RoPower project in Romania plans to deploy six reactor modules at a former coal plant site and is currently advancing through shareholder agreement conditions. On the supply chain front, the company has locked in contracts covering more than half of its critical operational partners, providing structural backing as it moves toward commercialization.