Advanced Nuclear — SMR & Microreactor

The U.S. government plans to lend Vistra about US$4.2b to expand nuclear power output, a move that spotlights utilities tied to nuclear energy as data centers, EVs, and crypto miners drive demand for reliable electricity. The article highlights three nuclear-exposed U.S. utilities as a sample from a broader screen that surfaced 9 more power companies. Entergy, with roughly US$13.4b in revenue and a market value of about US$48b, sees approximately 7 to 12 GW of hyperscale data center potential and 3 to 5 GW of traditional industrial demand in its territory, alongside signed agreements with AWS and Meta supporting roughly 8.5% to 9% annual retail sales growth. Ameren, a US$27.6b holding company, owns the Callaway nuclear facility and is studying more nuclear capacity, with 2.8 gigawatts of signed electric service agreements, 3.4 gigawatts of construction agreements, and a further 4 gigawatts of projects with completed interconnection studies in its Missouri territory. Deep Fission, with a market value of roughly US$305 million, develops small modular nuclear reactors buried about a mile underground for utilities, data centers, heavy industry, and government clients.

NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary HALEU Energy Fuel Inc. have entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Radnostix, Inc., formerly International Isotopes Inc., and its subsidiary International Isotopes Fluorine Products, Inc. to acquire strategic U.S. nuclear fuel processing assets, including a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission license and related intellectual property and technical materials tied to a previously planned depleted uranium hexafluoride deconversion and fluorine extraction facility in Lea County, New Mexico. Upon completion of the transaction and transfer of the NRC license, NANO Nuclear would own one of ten NRC-licensed fuel cycle facilities in the United States. Under the agreement, consideration at closing is $9.5 million in cash and $4.0 million in NANO common stock, with closing subject to NRC consent to the license transfer, other required approvals and consents including from New Mexico officials, satisfactory site arrangements and other closing conditions, and the parties currently expect closing in approximately 90 to 120 days. The NRC license was originally issued to construct and operate the DUF6 deconversion and fluorine extraction facility, which was never built, and the acquisition also includes related patented technology, engineering and safety analyses, regulatory and permitting materials, equipment and historical project development records. NANO Nuclear said the existing licensed asset could offer a significantly more efficient regulatory pathway than developing and licensing a comparable facility on a new site, and that no final investment decision has been made on the optimal commercial and development pathway for the acquired assets.

GE Vernova and Hitachi have secured a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a new reactor design, allowing the partners to begin licensed construction activities tied specifically to the advanced nuclear reactor project. The NRC approval confirms the reactor design meets current US regulatory requirements for safety and construction readiness. The permit adds nuclear hardware and long-cycle reactor work to GE Vernova's existing power equipment and services footprint, which already spans generation, grid hardware, and electricity storage across the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company's narrative leans on higher margin power and grid projects backed by recurring service contracts, and the permit ties that story directly to US regulators. Nuclear projects nonetheless add long-duration, lumpy exposure to a business already sensitive to big contracts, permitting cycles, and potential policy shifts, with any delay, redesign, or new safety requirement feeding into project timing and cash conversion.

Polish billionaire Michal Solowow is bringing several prominent business leaders into his small nuclear reactor venture, SGE SA, as Poland looks for alternatives to coal and prepares for rising electricity demand, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. The new shareholders include InPost founder Rafal Brzoska, ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski and Grupa Maspex CEO Krzysztof Pawinski, with Polish news outlet XYZ reporting the investors plan to commit about 500 million zloty, or $130 million, for their stakes. SGE holds the rights to deploy GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 reactor technology in Poland, and the private capital commitment marks another step toward commercial deployment of small modular reactors in Europe. SGE previously targeted 2030 for its first reactor but has pushed the expected startup to 2032, while Poland's government plans to bring the country's first large conventional nuclear plant online in 2036 and is considering SMRs as another component of its future energy mix. Solowow also said SGE and state-controlled energy company Orlen have reached an agreement concerning their joint venture to develop Poland's first SMR, potentially resolving previous disagreements over control and responsibilities, though he did not provide details.

Global Power Synergy, or GPSC, has announced an expansion of its cooperation with South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, or KHNP, to exchange technical information and develop personnel capabilities for managing nuclear power plants, supporting investment in an SMR portfolio targeting a total of 9,000 megawatts by 2593 under the national Power Development Plan, or PDP 2026, which supports increasing clean energy use to 50,000 megawatts or more. The first phase of the plan will develop 300 megawatts of capacity in 2580, with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, leading the pilot project. In the next phase, the government will consider permitting construction sites. KHNP is a company in the Korea Electric Power Corporation, or KEPCO, group, which holds 100% of its shares, and has expertise in engineering, procurement and construction, as well as full-service maintenance. KEPCO accounts for about 30% of total electricity generation in South Korea, equivalent to total generating capacity of approximately 31,000 megawatts. Previously, GPSC joined with Seaborg Technologies ApS, an SMR technology developer from Denmark, to study the feasibility of designing small modular units that are highly safe and emit no carbon dioxide, taking about four years between 2567 and 2570 and using a Technology Diversification approach that does not limit the study to any single technology or country, in order to assess technologies suited to Thailand's context and manage risks related to technology, regulation, cost and geopolitics.

J.P. Morgan analysts said Europe's accelerating data centre buildout could strengthen the case for new nuclear capacity as technology companies seek dependable, low-carbon electricity to power AI infrastructure. European data centre electricity consumption could rise from about 70 TWh currently to roughly 115 TWh by 2030, according to European Commission estimates cited in the report, and J.P. Morgan forecasts an additional 89 TWh of annual European data centre power demand by 2030 compared with 2023, with Iberia and the Nordics accounting for about 45% of the increase. Europe's announced data centre pipeline stood at 66.1 GW at the end of 2025, compared with 10.8 GW of live capacity. Google recently agreed to a 22-year power purchase agreement with Fortum covering nuclear generation in Finland, carrying an estimated premium of roughly 60% to forward electricity prices, following similar nuclear agreements by Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Google in the United States. Small modular reactors could play a larger role as demand grows, though Europe currently has no operating commercial SMRs, with the first projects targeted for the early 2030s, and the European Commission estimates €241 billion of investment will be required through 2050 for new large reactors and lifetime extensions.

BWX Technologies announced it has received an inaugural investment grade credit rating of BBB with a Stable Outlook from Fitch Ratings. Fitch assigned the company's revolving credit facility a BBB+ rating and its 4.125% senior notes due in 2028 and 2029, BBB ratings. Chief financial officer Mike Fitzgerald said the rating reflects BWXT's critical role in providing nuclear solutions to national security and commercial power customers, its strong financial position and its disciplined approach to capital allocation. Fitch cited BWXT's strong position in supplying critical nuclear reactor components and fuel for U.S. naval propulsion and other strategic government programs, backed by specialized licenses, intellectual property and the ability to meet stringent regulatory requirements. The agency also pointed to multi-year revenue visibility and cash flow stability supported by a robust backlog, along with conservative financial policy and the flexibility to fund growth while maintaining leverage consistent with the investment grade rating.

X-Energy is developing the Xe-100, a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to serve both electricity and industrial heat customers, with a four-reactor configuration generating 320 MWe of electricity and each individual reactor producing 80 MWe of electricity or nearly 200 MW of thermal output. Through its partnership with Centrica, the company has identified Hartlepool in the U.K. as a preferred site for a potential Xe-100 fleet, and in September 2026 the two announced the Xe-100 had been accepted into the U.K.'s Generic Design Assessment process, a review expected to take approximately three years involving the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. Under the partnership, Centrica and X-Energy intend to deploy up to 6 GW of new nuclear capacity in the U.K., equivalent to roughly 10 to 20 Xe-100 power stations depending on the size of each installation. Together, Dow, Amazon and Centrica underpin a potential pipeline of 144 reactors representing approximately 11.5 GWe, assuming customers exercise their contingent rights in full. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2027 earnings per share indicates an increase of 26.87% year over year, while XE trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales of 12.87X versus an industry average of 4.95X and carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Kairos Power has selected engineering firm Samsung C&T to help build its 50 megawatt demonstration reactor for Google, a project the nuclear startup aims to complete by 2030. Under the deal announced Monday, Samsung C&T will make an equity investment in Kairos and provide in-kind engineering services, together worth up to $100 million, with the equity portion accounting for $70 million of the total, a Kairos spokesperson told TechCrunch. Samsung C&T has built or helped build about a dozen nuclear reactors around the world. Kairos is part of a wave of nuclear startups benefiting from surging power demand from AI data centers, and Google first signed a deal with the company in fall 2024 calling for reactors capable of generating about half a gigawatt of electricity by 2035. Kairos is currently building two reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Hermes 1, a low-power demonstrator to refine its commercial design, and Hermes 2, its first commercial-scale reactor, whose output will count as the first 50 megawatts of the Google deal. The startup received Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to build the reactors in November 2024 and expects Hermes 2 to begin operating in 2030, in line with its original agreement with Google.

Centrus Energy Corp. reported on September 17 that it had signed a multi-year contract to supply high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, to Antares Nuclear, with deliveries expected to begin before the end of the decade. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal includes prepayments from Antares to help fund Centrus' expanded HALEU capacity. Antares is developing compact microreactors for critical missions on Earth and in space and was recently selected for the U.S. Army's Janus Program, a $2.2 billion initiative to build and operate tiny nuclear reactors on military bases. Centrus President and CEO Amir Vexler said the contract is another sign that demand for HALEU is real and accelerating, and that binding orders from Antares and others are supporting the company's expansion to commercial-scale production. The agreement adds to Centrus Energy's backlog of $4.5 billion as of the end of the second quarter, including about $3 billion of contingent LEU and HALEU sales commitments, of which around $2.4 billion are under definitive agreements. The deal's near-term impact remains limited, since the contract value, pricing and delivery volumes were not disclosed and deliveries are years away, while Centrus' first new commercial capacity is not expected online before 2029.

Energy Minister Eknat Prompan has unveiled a major energy restructuring plan, under which the government will reserve 10,000 megawatts of rooftop solar generating capacity specifically for the public, set at roughly 5 kilowatts per household, to spread the right across households nationwide. Under the new approach, the state will buy back surplus power and apply it as a discount on the same billing cycle's electricity bill. A 5-kilowatt system can generate about 600 to 700 units per month, worth roughly 2,000 baht or more, and the state will provide a subsidy of 50,000 baht, with the income from the generated power used to pay it off. The equipment is expected to be fully paid off in about 7 to 10 years. On cutting permitting steps, coordination will be handled solely through the distribution utilities, with a target of about 1 week for inspection and acceptance in self-consumption installations, and no more than 1 month in cases of selling power back. For the new Power Development Plan, or PDP, three goals are set: cleanest, most stable, and fairest. It targets raising the share of clean energy from the current level of just over 20% to close to 50% within 10 years, and no less than 65% in the long term, while reducing reliance on spot-market LNG in favor of long-term contracts, and opening the door to future technologies including hydrogen, geothermal, solid oxide fuel cells, and small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. Meanwhile, the public electricity cost that has been embedded in the power tariff structure for 30 to 40 years amounts to a burden of about 18 billion baht per year. The government has removed this burden from the structure and has already implemented a measure capping the first 200 units of household electricity at 3 baht per unit.

Oklo, the microreactor developer that went public through a SPAC merger on May 10, 2024, is targeting deployment of its first Aurora Powerhouse microreactors in Idaho in late 2027 or early 2028, with analysts expecting revenue to rise to $2 million in 2026, $8 million in 2027, and $53 million in 2028. The Aurora generates only 1.5 MWe on its own but is designed to be deployed alongside additional microreactors to build plants capable of generating up to 75 MWe, far below the over 1,000 MWe of a conventional nuclear plant, though its modular, factory-prefabricated design suits remote, off-grid sites and data center operators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Oklo's Principal Design Criteria for the Aurora in June, and the company achieved criticality at Groves One, its first pilot isotope-production reactor, in early August, deploying it in just 229 days. Oklo's partnership with Meta Platforms, announced in January, aims to deliver 1.2 GW of power at a nuclear campus in Ohio, with initial phases expected online around 2030, and the company is working to convert a multi-gigawatt pipeline of non-binding letters of intent, including a 14 GW agreement with Switch, into firm Power Purchase Agreements. Oklo also signed an LOI to buy HALEU from Centrus Energy, one of the only companies authorized to produce and enrich HALEU in the United States, while carrying a $7.4 billion market cap that trades at 139 times its 2028 sales.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Ratepayer Protection Act by a near-unanimous margin, sending shares of nuclear reactor developers Oklo and NuScale Power sharply higher in Thursday morning trading. Oklo stock rose 13% to $40.37, while NuScale Power stock climbed 10% to $9.14, far outpacing the Global X Uranium ETF, which gained 4% to $42.92, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which rose 1% to $762.04. The bill would require large data centers to pay for the power generation and transmission upgrades their electricity demand creates rather than spreading those costs across other utility customers, though it still needs Senate approval before becoming law. Oklo's bull case rests on a signed pipeline that includes a 12 GW master power agreement with Switch and a 500 MW letter of intent with Equinix that included a $25 million pre-payment, but the company targets first commercial power delivery only in late 2027 to early 2028 and remains pre-revenue in its core reactor business, with shares down 44% year to date. NuScale Power, the only U.S. NRC design-certified small modular reactor technology provider, ended Q2 2026 with $1.9 billion in cash and investments, and its growth story centers on ENTRA1 Energy advancing discussions with TVA toward a definitive PPA for up to 6 GW of capacity, described as potentially the largest nuclear deployment program in U.S. history, though its stock is down 36% year to date and trades near its 50-day moving average of $9.06.

Microsoft and Swedish nuclear company Blykalla announced a partnership to apply AI to nuclear reactor licensing processes. The collaboration will deploy Microsoft's GenAI for Energy Permitting Solution Accelerator within Blykalla's regulatory workflows in Sweden and the U.S., targeting faster permitting and licensing for advanced nuclear reactors, a frequent bottleneck for clean energy deployment timelines. Microsoft is a US based technology giant with a US$3.7 trillion market cap whose software and cloud tools are used by governments, utilities, and enterprises. The deal also connects to Microsoft's push to secure reliable power for its own data centers, since reactors like SEALER are described as potential co located sources of energy for AI facilities. The early test will be whether regulators and utilities adopt Microsoft's GenAI for Energy Permitting tools into their own workflows in Sweden and the U.S.

NuScale Power said it successfully fabricated specialized boron-oxide pellets, a critical component of its passive emergency cooling system, in collaboration with MilleniTEK on Sept. 1. The pellets, which automatically dissolve in reactor coolant to control core reactivity without operator intervention, are used in NuScale's 77 MWe Small Modular Reactor design and its Emergency Core Cooling System. The company said the fabrication milestone moves the pellets beyond a paper concept and one step closer to mass production and commercial deployment, and that producing the components before construction begins can shorten the supply process up front; NuScale has secured master service agreements with over 60 specialized suppliers. NuScale, the only small modular reactor developer to receive a Standard Design Approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, currently has one project, the RoPower Doicești Project in Romania, where it plans to deploy up to six NuScale Power Modules with the first projected to come online in 2033. The company is also working with ENTRA1 Energy and hopes to close a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority by year-end to explore deploying up to 6 GW, about 72, of its SMRs, though no firm commitment has been made.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, has signed an agreement to receive grant funding for a preliminary feasibility study of an SMR power plant project, together with the United States Trade and Development Agency, or USTDA. The signing ceremony was held on 14 September 2026 at the Gastech 2026 event at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Bangkok. Witnessing the ceremony were Mr. Ekkanat Promphan, Minister of Energy; Mr. Prasert Sinsukprasert, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy; and Ambassador Sean K. O'Neill, United States Ambassador to Thailand, along with Mr. James Danly, Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Energy. Mr. Thomas R. Hardy, Deputy Director and Acting Director of USTDA, and Mr. Narin Phoawanich, Governor of EGAT, signed the agreement. Mr. Narin said this support marks an important foundation for Thailand in assessing the feasibility of SMR power plant technology, and will help EGAT evaluate potential sites, costs, as well as the regulatory procedures and requirements needed to adopt such technology in Thailand.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, has signed an agreement to receive grant funding for a preliminary feasibility study of an SMR power plant project together with the United States Trade and Development Agency, or USTDA. EGAT Governor Narin Phoawanich said the support marks an important foundation for Thailand in assessing the feasibility of SMR power plant technology. Mr. Thomas R. Hardy, Deputy Director and Acting Director of USTDA, said the cooperation reflects the United States' leadership role in nuclear energy and aligns with the policy of expanding access to energy technology while strengthening energy security in the Indo-Pacific region. The signing will help EGAT assess preliminary potential sites, costs, as well as the regulatory procedures and requirements needed to adopt SMR power plant technology in Thailand, amid electricity demand that continues to trend higher.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared on the Gastech 2026 stage that Thailand will not choose between security and sustainability alone, but must have both at a price that people and businesses can afford. Natural gas and LNG remain the backbone during the transition, while energy sources are being diversified to reduce risks from global market prices. The government is preparing a 50 billion baht fund starting in mid-October to support households installing rooftop solar to cut electricity bills. Energy Minister Akanat Promphan is pursuing an LNG strategy alongside hydrogen, ammonia, and CCS, aiming for Net Zero 2050. Thailand is also opening applications for the 26th petroleum exploration and production licensing round covering over 60,200 square kilometers. In the first half of the year, the BOI received investment promotion applications exceeding 1.43 trillion baht, up 37% driven mainly by digital, clean energy, and technology. Warut Thammavaranucupt, Chief Executive Officer of Sermsang Power Corporation Public Company Limited, or SSP, is preparing to bid on projects under the draft PDP 2026, which sets new generating capacity in the first 12 years from 2026 to 2037 totaling over 50,900 megawatts, divided into 9,100 megawatts of CCGT, 300 megawatts of SMR, 24,300 megawatts of solar, 2,700 megawatts of wind, and 14,500 megawatts of BESS. SSP previously won FiT projects for 2022 to 2030 totaling 170.5 megawatts and currently has about 420 megawatts of projects in hand, including solar in Thailand and the Bago wind farm in the Philippines. It is preparing for commercial operation of two community waste-to-energy plants totaling 19.8 megawatts in the fourth quarter of 2026, with more than 146 megawatts of projects gradually coming online through 2030. The company aims to push its renewable energy generating capacity to 1,000 megawatts by 2032. The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Apisit Suksakorn as Assistant Secretary-General for the Digital Technology line, effective January 1, 2027, responsible for overseeing information technology risk, data management and analytics, and information technology. Meanwhile, Jintana Kingkaew, Deputy Managing Director of Siam Gas and Petrochemicals Public Company Limited, or SGP, received the Carbon Footprint for Organization, or CFO, certificate for the second consecutive year after the company began its carbon footprint assessment project in 2021.