NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) is retreating sharply in Friday morning trading, erasing the policy-driven advance nuclear developers posted just one session earlier.
SMR stock is trading at $8.45, down 7% at midday, extending a brutal year-to-date decline of 40% that reflects how deeply the stock has already been re-priced in 2026.
The selloff is not limited to NuScale Power, with Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) falling 5% to $37.57, continuing a difficult stretch for the pre-revenue advanced reactor developer.
Centrus Energy (NYSEAMERICAN: LEU) is seeing a milder pullback, slipping 3% to $144.66 as the cash-generating uranium enricher gives back part of its recent rally.
The Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEARCA: URA) is down 2% on the session, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA: SPY) is barely moved, off just 0.1%, confirming the pressure is concentrated squarely in nuclear-related names.
Thursday’s advance had a clear legislative catalyst, as the House of Representatives passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, a measure requiring large energy users such as data centers to bear the cost of generation, transmission, and grid upgrades needed to serve them.
Traders had bid up small modular reactor developers on the view that the legislation shifts data center power economics toward dedicated generation, with NuScale Power sitting at the center of that thesis.
Friday’s retreat suggests that much of Thursday’s enthusiasm was tactical positioning rather than a durable re-rating of the underlying businesses involved.
Adding to the sector’s difficult mood is the separate news that Holtec International cancelled its planned initial public offering on Wednesday, with the company’s chief executive describing conditions as a “perfect storm” and noting that Holtec’s business is viewed as tied to the data center economy.
The fact that Oklo and Centrus Energy are both moving lower alongside NuScale Power, despite having very different business models, points to sector-wide positioning being trimmed rather than any company-specific problem at any single name.
With SMR stock down 40% year to date, analysts and investors alike are watching whether the shares can hold above the $8 level, since a second consecutive red session on heavy volume would signal more than routine profit-taking.
The commercial case for small modular reactor development remains intact, but Friday’s reversal is a sharp reminder that policy-driven rallies in nuclear stocks can unwind just as quickly as they materialize.
