The nuclear vitality story that had Wall Street buzzing in 2025 has collapsed this 12 months. NuScale Power (SMR), one of the most widespread corporations in the small modular reactor (SMR) space, has become one of the greatest short-seller targets in 2026.
Valued at a market capitalization of around $3.8 billion, SMR stock is now down 83% from its all-time high, grossly underperforming the broader markets. Will SMR stock proceed to decline over the next 12 months? Let’s take a nearer look.
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The SMR Stock Hype Cycle Unravels
Small modular reactors are compact nuclear plants constructed from factory-made components. These reactors sometimes produce around 300 megawatts of vitality or less, in contrast to more than 1,000 MW for a conventional reactor. The pitch for SMRs is easy: quicker builds, decrease prices, and energy close to where it is needed, like a data-center campus.
SMR corporations initially attracted curiosity from artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers, driving their share costs larger in late 2025. Adam Stein, Director of Nuclear Energy Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, lately advised Financial Times that the sector went through a “textbook hype cycle,” with stock costs getting overinflated on hypothesis rather than income.
The Financial Times report explains that short sellers made an estimated $2 billion betting against three corporations over the previous 12 months, according to knowledge from S3 Partners: NuScale, Nano Nuclear (NNE), and Oklo (OKLO). Together, these corporations and their friends have lost a mixed $30 billion in market worth.
According to the report, roughly 18% of NuScale’s excellent shares are out on loan, a common proxy for short promoting exercise, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That is a significant chunk of the stock leaning against continued features.
Reportedly, sentiment for names like NuScale has cooled significantly in 2026, due to a mixture of little to no income and high capital spending wants. However, BloombergNEF knowledge reveals that U.S. data-center energy demand is projected to climb from virtually 35 gigawatts in 2024 to 106 GW by 2035, while the U.S. Department of Energy announced $17.5 billion in loans in June 2026 to help rebuild the home nuclear vitality provide chain.
