9:18 AM on Dec 15, 2021 CST
NuScale Power LLC, a nuclear technology company that’s majority-owned by Irving-based engineering giant Fluor Corp., is planning to go public through a deal with blank-check company Spring Valley Acquisition Corp.
The combination of Portland, Ore.-based NuScale and the special purpose acquisition vehicle will have an estimated pro-forma enterprise value of $1.9 billion and Fluor will have a 60% stake, according to a statement Tuesday. NuScale anticipates gross proceeds of as much as $413 million.
NuScale is among a growing number of companies seeking to commercialize a new generation of smaller nuclear power plants that are expected to be faster and cheaper to build than the conventional reactors that are widely used now. Supporters say that carbon-free nuclear power will play a key role in the global effort to fight climate change.
“There’s a pretty broad consensus that nuclear is needed to achieve emissions targets,” Chief Strategy Officer Chris Colbert said in an interview.
NuScale has 19 deals to develop or explore building power plants using its small modular reactors, or SMRs, in 11 countries. It’s on track to complete one in the U.S. in 2029 and a plant may go into service in Romania in 2028.
The company typically would start to generate revenue from clients several years before a plant is complete, and expects to receive meaningful revenue starting in 2024. The deal with Spring Valley is expected to close in the second quarter, when the company will begin trading under the ticker SMR.
NuScale is the only company to have won approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an SMR design. That should help it get permission to develop plants in other countries, Colbert said.
“We’re seeing a real acceleration in the desire for carbon-free nuclear power,” he said.
Will Wade, Bloomberg