NuScale Power stock surges as SMR (small modular reactor) demand accelerates for data center grid decarbonization.

NuScale Power stock rebounded sharply today, rising 12.1% as of 1:54 p.m. ET, recovering from an 11.1% decline that occurred from the close of trading last Friday through yesterday's market session. The company itself announced nothing to justify the climb, but investor optimism appears driven by recent data center development news.

Yesterday, the Department of Energy announced a project in Kentucky involving Brookfield, NextEra Energy, and several other partners to redevelop a federally owned former uranium enrichment site into a $100 billion data center campus. While NextEra Energy will develop natural gas-fired power to support the Kentucky project, NuScale Power investors are likely interpreting the announcement as a signal that the Trump Administration is committed to developing data centers on federal lands—a development that sidesteps the apparent public pushback against data center expansion in some communities.

NuScale Power positions its small modular reactors (SMRs) as a critical solution to meet the high power demands of data centers driven by artificial intelligence computing. It is therefore unsurprising that data center news has contributed to the stock's rise, particularly as communities continue to resist data center development in their regions.

The company remains in early stages despite being among the leaders in nuclear energy SMR technology development. Investment in NuScale Power carries substantial risk and should only be considered by investors with significant risk tolerance. Those seeking industry exposure might find a nuclear energy exchange-traded fund a more prudent alternative.