NuScale Power Stock Tanks: What’s Behind the August 2025 Crash?

Nuclear darling NuScale just got steamrolled—shares nosedived as markets soured on small modular reactors. Here's the fallout.

Wall Street's cold feet

Investors bolted after revised cost projections hinted at 2027 deployment delays. The 'too cheap to meter' crowd got meter-shocked—again.

Short circuits in the thesis

Bull cases relied on DOE subsidies covering 40% of builds. When Treasury whispered 'recalibration,' the algos panicked faster than a coked-up day trader.

Silver lining playbook?

Technicals show oversold conditions, but let's be real—this is nuclear we're talking about. The sector's always one political whim away from renaissance or ruin.

Funny how these 'disruptive energy' plays keep getting disrupted by... *checks notes*... basic project economics. Maybe stick to meme coins next time.

Image source: Getty Images.

NuScale Power Q2 earnings

NuScale doesn't actually have any reactors yet, so it wasn't expected to report any earnings. Revenue was weaker than analysts had hoped, but really, neither revenue nor profit was actually top of mind for NuScale investors this week.

Cash burn is more of a concern, and NuScale is burning cash, with $56.1 million consumed so far in the first half of 2025. Still, this was less cash than NuScale burned in the first half of 2024, so arguably good news for the stock -- especially with NuScale reminding that it ended the quarter with "cash, cash equivalents, and short- and long-term investments of $489.9 million." That's enough cash to keep NuScale in business for nearly five more years at its current cash-burn rate.

Sell NuScale stock after earnings?

So why are investors selling NuScale stock today? That's hard to say. The lack of any major new announcements in the earnings press release -- something to keep the momentum going -- is probably one factor. Lingering concern that might begin selling NuScale shares and flood the market after converting 15 million Class B NuScale shares into Class A shares that can be traded is probably another.

Ultimately, though, NuScale remains a speculative investment, the success of which will depend on its ability to build and market small modular reactors to customers years down the line. In that context, yesterday's earnings report...really didn't matter much at all.