The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a construction permit to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a small modular reactor that is not built on NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) technology.
The NRC approved TVA’s application to build a 300-megawatt BWRX-300 reactor designed by GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV), marking the first commercial small modular reactor construction permit the agency has ever issued.
The reactor will be built at TVA’s Clinch River site in Tennessee, a location that already held an early site permit granted back in 2019, giving the project a significant head start.
The NRC officially began reviewing TVA’s application in July 2025, completing the process in just 14 months, finishing four months ahead of the originally scheduled timeline.
NuScale has long maintained that it holds the only design certification the NRC has granted to a small modular reactor, and its newer US460 design earned standard design approval from the agency in May 2025.
Despite being first to regulatory design approval, NuScale has not translated that milestone into a construction permit or any firm customer commitments for a reactor build.
NuScale shares were trading near $8, down approximately 86% from the $57.42 peak reached a year prior, reflecting deep investor concern about the company’s path to commercialization.
UBS cut NuScale to a sell rating less than three weeks before the TVA construction permit was granted, arguing that rivals were advancing into construction phases while NuScale had secured no firm customer commitments.
All of NuScale’s commercial activity runs through ENTRA1 Energy, its exclusive commercialization partner, which signed a non-binding agreement with TVA in September 2025 for up to 6 gigawatts of capacity from NuScale’s power modules.
The agreement was positioned partly as a power supply solution for artificial intelligence data centers, representing a growing and capital-intensive demand segment that reactor developers are increasingly targeting.
As of NuScale’s second-quarter report filed in August, ENTRA1 was still working toward a definitive power purchase agreement with TVA, a deal that must be finalized before any license application can be submitted.
NRC records show NuScale is currently listed only in pre-application work for future combined license applications, meaning no utility has yet formally applied to build and operate a reactor using the US460 design.
NuScale was expected to report third-quarter earnings on November 5, with analysts and investors focusing almost entirely on one question: whether a power purchase agreement with TVA had been signed.
The contrast between GE Vernova’s construction clearance and NuScale’s still-pending commercial agreements underscores how quickly the competitive landscape for small modular reactors is shifting.
