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NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) CEO John Hopkins defended the company Tuesday, saying work continues in the U.S. and two other countries despite last week’s cancellation of its first plant at the Idaho National Laboratory because of concerns about low subscription for the plant’s power.
“We have $200M in the bank. That’s cash, no debt. So we have a healthy balance sheet,” Hopkins told an American Nuclear Society conference in Washington, D.C.
The CEO said NuScale (SMR) projects in Romania and South Korea continue to develop, and a plan with service provider Standard Power to develop 2 GW of nuclear power intended for data centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio is on track, with a contract for the project to be completed “if not this week, then next.”
NuScale (SMR) was the first U.S. company to secure regulatory approval for its design of a small, modular reactor, but critics say such advanced reactor designs are too expensive to succeed.
“The termination of NuScale’s contract signals the broader challenges of developing nuclear energy” in the U.S., Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Reuters.
NuScale (SMR) shares rose 6% in Tuesday’s trading but have tumbled 25% in the week since its project was canceled, and TD Cowen analysts said the company may need a capital raise as it needs to reimburse its customer in Utah $50M for costs.
