NuScale Power rose 7% after announcing a manufacturing deal with Doosan.

A South Korean manufacturing contract gives one small modular reactor developer a concrete step from an approved design toward physical hardware. NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) stock is at $6.06, up 7% in afternoon trading. The nuclear sector is much calmer by comparison, with the VanEck Uranium+Nuclear Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:NLR) at $96.24, up 0.3%. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is at $769.06, down 0.4%.

NuScale's two closest nuclear peers are also rising, though neither is keeping pace. One is Oklo (NYSE:OKLO), a fellow small modular reactor developer with a different reactor design. The other is BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT), an established maker of nuclear components and naval propulsion systems. Both companies sit outside NuScale's new agreement.

**Inside NuScale's Doosan Contract for Reactor Hardware**

NuScale announced at 6:50 a.m. on October 29 that it signed a contract with Doosan Enerbility to manufacture the upper reactor coolant system for the NuScale Power Module. Doosan will carry out the work at its reactor production facility in Changwon, South Korea. The agreement builds on a partnership between the two companies that began in 2019, and it moves the collaboration from preparation into production of the First Article. Neither company disclosed the contract's value or a customer.

CEO John Hopkins framed the deal around execution for NuScale: "This agreement is a meaningful step in converting our approved design into deliverable modules." Jongdoo Kim, CEO of Doosan Enerbility's Nuclear Business Group, said in the same release, "This contract marks an important step as SMR technology moves from technical validation into actual manufacturing." That approved design carries weight, since NuScale holds the only U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) design certification in the small modular reactor industry.

**Oklo and BWX Rise but Fall Short of NuScale**

Oklo stock is at $27.48, up 1%. That gain trails NuScale's advance by a wide margin, and Oklo has no role in the Doosan contract. The company competes for many of the same future reactor customers, though its Aurora powerhouse uses a different fast-reactor technology.

BWX stock is at $139.07, up 3%. This advance is the stronger of the two peer moves, yet it still falls behind NuScale. A Korean supplier's role could be neutral to slightly negative for BWX, which is expanding its U.S. footprint in commercial nuclear component manufacturing after closing its Precision Components Group acquisition on July 1.

**What Sets NuScale's Business Apart From Oklo and BWX**

NuScale designs and licenses its reactor modules, then leans on a network of specialized supply-chain partners to build them for utilities and developers. Oklo takes a different path, planning to own its Aurora powerhouses and sell electricity directly to customers such as data center operators. That makes Oklo more of a future power producer, while NuScale is positioning itself as a technology and equipment supplier.

BWX stands apart from both developers. The company already generates steady revenue and profit as the sole supplier of naval nuclear propulsion systems to the U.S. Navy, alongside a growing commercial nuclear components business. Both small modular reactor developers, by contrast, remain essentially pre-revenue and depend on future installations to build their businesses.

**NuScale Still Needs Its First Binding Module Order**

The Doosan contract advances manufacturing, but NuScale is still waiting on a binding order for its modules. For Q2 2026, NuScale Power reported revenue of $75,000, compared with $8.1 million in the year-earlier quarter. That drop reflects engineering services for a Romanian project that wrapped up in late 2025 with no similar billable work behind it.

NuScale Power said ENTRA1 Energy, its exclusive partner, is still in nonbinding talks with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on a definitive agreement covering up to 6 gigawatts. On the balance sheet, NuScale held $1.9 billion in cash and investments as of June 30, which gives the company room to wait.

NuScale stock is still down 57% year to date (YTD). NuScale faces another key moment when its upcoming Q3 2026 earnings report provides fresh detail on ENTRA1 and TVA progress.

Bulls can point to NuScale's certified design now moving into physical production with an experienced manufacturer. Bears can point to a company that still lacks a paying customer for its modules and a stock that remains deep in the red this year. The broader nuclear restart trade extends well beyond the small modular reactor names (we mapped five ways to play it, utilities and fuel included, in a free nuclear report). Traders may prefer to keep their exposure smaller until the question of a binding module order resolves.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.