The nuclear energy story that had Wall Street buzzing in 2025 has collapsed this year. NuScale Power (SMR), one of the most popular companies in the small modular reactor (SMR) space, has become one of the biggest 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 continue to decline over the next 12 months? Let’s take a closer look.
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The SMR Stock Hype Cycle Unravels
Small modular reactors are compact nuclear plants built from factory-made parts. These reactors typically produce around 300 megawatts of energy or less, compared to more than 1,000 MW for a traditional reactor. The pitch for SMRs is simple: faster builds, lower costs, and power close to where it is needed, like a data-center campus.
SMR companies initially attracted interest from artificial intelligence (AI) hyperscalers, driving their share prices higher in late 2025. Adam Stein, Director of Nuclear Energy Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, recently told Financial Times that the sector went through a “textbook hype cycle,” with stock prices getting overinflated on speculation rather than revenue.
The Financial Times report explains that short sellers made an estimated $2 billion betting against three companies over the past year, according to data from S3 Partners: NuScale, Nano Nuclear (NNE), and Oklo (OKLO). Together, these companies and their peers have lost a combined $30 billion in market value.
According to the report, roughly 18% of NuScale’s outstanding shares are out on loan, a common proxy for short selling activity, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That is a meaningful chunk of the stock leaning against continued gains.
Reportedly, sentiment for names like NuScale has cooled considerably in 2026, due to a combination of little to no revenue and high capital spending needs. However, BloombergNEF data shows that U.S. data-center power demand is projected to climb from almost 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 domestic nuclear energy supply chain.
