NuScale Power (SMR) Stock, September 2026: Romania Audit and Earnings Pressure Test the AI Power Thesis

NuScale Power fell 8.5% to $8.27 on September 18 with no published report identifying a specific cause, as a Romanian government audit challenging the Doicești project structure and a streak of earnings misses — including Q2 revenue of just $75,000 — accumulate against a still-live TVA deployment conversation and the first safety-grade SMR fuel pellets entering fabrication.

NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) closed the September 18 session at $8.27, down 8.5% on the day, extending a stretch of volatility that has kept the stock below $10. No published report reviewed by Slicast identifies a specific catalyst for Friday's move. September coverage does, however, point to two significant headwinds accumulating against the company: a Romanian government audit challenging the structure of its Doicești nuclear data center project, and a persistent streak of earnings misses that continue to widen the distance between NuScale's market valuation and its commercial footing.

The Romania development is the most concrete near-term negative in the coverage. A government audit published in September questioned the structure and delivery framework of the Doicești project, in a region where data-center operators are actively evaluating SMR solutions to meet surging electricity demand and decarbonisation mandates. An audit that challenges how a project is structured introduces execution risk. Whether the consequences — renegotiation, delay, or something more material — can be contained is not yet determinable from available reporting.

The financial picture provides little ballast. NuScale's second-quarter revenue fell to $75,000, a 99% decline, even as the company's cash pile grew by $900 million and a $750 million at-the-market equity offering was launched in August, executed through UBS Securities, B. Riley Securities, Canaccord Genuity, Craig-Hallum Capital Group, Texas Capital Securities and Tuohy Brothers. Capital expenditure reached $508,000 in fiscal 2025 — a 1,054.5% increase from $44,000 in fiscal 2024 — and the largest single quarter on record was $2 million in the period ending March 31, 2026. Those figures accurately describe a company still years ahead of commercial-scale construction, not one breaking ground. Among Slicast's tracked power-sector peers, NuScale ranks last in both absolute capex and capex intensity, metrics consistent with its pre-commercial stage. Analysts reviewing the quarter flagged the earnings miss while pointing to ongoing energy-centre partnership negotiations as the primary near-term value driver, according to Quiver Quantitative coverage.

Against those pressures, the longer-term thesis retains tangible anchors. Ongoing talks with the Tennessee Valley Authority — covering a potential deployment of six to eight gigawatts of SMR capacity that NuScale's CEO has described as the largest nuclear build-out in U.S. history — remain the single most consequential near-term milestone. Progress in fabrication is also visible: in September, a collaboration with MillenniTEK produced the first safety-grade fuel pellets for an SMR design already cleared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, moving a critical hardware component from design into physical production. A strategic alliance with Nuclearn and NPX to deploy nuclear-specific AI tools, and separate discussions with Nucor about integrating SMR power into industrial planning, indicate the company is building a pipeline that extends beyond data-centre customers. European interest is developing concurrently, with September coverage noting that data-centre operators across the continent are evaluating SMR options from NuScale alongside Oklo.

The investment case for NuScale remains a long-duration bet on execution under operational and political uncertainty. Three signals are worth tracking closely: whether the TVA talks produce a binding commercial framework — a 6–8 GW agreement would be transformative for a company with $75,000 in quarterly revenue; how the Romanian audit resolves and whether the Doicești project survives in recognisable form; and whether any current partnership discussion yields a first formal module order, the milestone that at least one analyst identifies as the most likely trigger for a re-rating. The August equity offering bought the company runway, but commercial credibility is earned on milestones, not capital raises. The nuclear-AI trade thesis has so far proved durable enough to absorb poor quarterly numbers — whether it can absorb a major project setback is the question the next several months will answer.