By John Stang
NuScale Power Corp. hopes to add three new clients 2023 to the two that it already has.
The small modular reactor developer pinned down its second client in 2022, RoPower Nuclear S.A, which will build six reactors at a decommissioned coal-fired power plant site in Romania. “2022 was a year of increased momentum for NuScale,” said CEO John Hopkins in a teleconference with analysts on Wednesday. Hopkins said there are potentially 120 customers worldwide.
The teleconference covered the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, had a net loss of $47.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with losing $28 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. Revenue rose to $3.4 million for the quarter compared with $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. NuScale makes money on consulting and loses money on research and development costs.
NuScale has predicted it would need $200 million through 2024 to continue developing its small modular reactor. In early 2022, NuScale acquired $341 million when Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company based in the Cayman Islands, merged with NuScale. A special purpose acquisition company is a publicly-traded shell company.
NuScale still has $267.7 million in cash on hand. NuScale CFO Chris Colbert predicted the company could lose $102 million to $142 million in 2023.
Fluor Corp. is a major stakeholder in NuScale, currently owns 57% of the small reactor developer
NuScale is developing a small modular reactor design and hopes to expand into manufacturing and selling the reactors. Small modular reactors are prefabricated facilities with parts manufactured in one location which are then transported to the reactor site for final assembly. A modular segment would consist of a mini-reactor of 77 megawatts. The design allows for extra modules to be added as needed.
In 2020, NuScale became the first and so far only small modular reactor developer to receive approval for its design by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
NuScale is working with a major regional utility, Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, to deploy the first NuScale power plant with one reactor module in 2029 at the Idaho National Laboratory. NuScale hopes to add another five modular reactors at INL in 2030.as the only NRC-approved design for a small modular reactor.
