Earnings rose at NuScale Power, Corvallis, Ore. in the second quarter, which the small modular reactor developer attributed to engineering and licenses and additional services to support RoPower’s efforts to deploy a NuScale power module in Romania.
Revenue for the second quarter ended on June 30 were $8.1 million, up from $1 million in the year-ago quarter. General and administrative expenses were $22.5 million, up from $16.8 million year-over-year.
The quarter’s increased expenses were “primarily driven by higher business development costs associated with NuScale’s transition from a research and development-based company to a commercial company, partially offset by cost optimization measures,” according to NuScale’s Aug. 7 earnings report.
NuScale continues to work with RoPower, a Romanian nuclear company, on a project in Dolcești, Romania to provide six NuScale Power Modules at a decommissioned coal plant site.
NuScale CEO John Hopkins said in the conference call that the Romanian retired coal plant has been completely removed.
As a part of the project, NuScale has continued to make progress with Fluor’s Phase 2 Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study. Fluor is a major stakeholder in NuScale. Initiated in the third quarter of 2024, phase 2 is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
In May, NuScale’s uprate for its standard design, which would increase the power output per module from 50 megawatts to 77 megawatts, was approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). NuScale is the first U.S. SMR developer to have its reactor design approved by the NRC.
Additionally, NuScale organized two new Nuclear Energy Exploration Centers, one at George Mason University and another at South Carolina State University. The NuScale’s centers are designed to engage students in hands-on nuclear science and engineering..
While NuScale is the only SMR developer with an NRC-approved SMR design, the company continues to wait for an order for its nuclear technology. Hopkins said the company is in conversations with multiple parties, including the Department of Defense, about SMR deployment.
NuScale hopes to receive a firm order by the end of 2025, Hopkins said.