New York, January 16, 2026, 12:36 PM EST — Regular session
- NuScale Power shares rose about 6% in midday trade, outpacing a mixed group of U.S. power names.
- A White House push to make data center operators shoulder more grid costs kept focus on new generation buildout.
- Traders are watching whether PJM responds with concrete auction changes — and what it means for nuclear project economics.
NuScale Power Corp shares rose about 6% on Friday, clawing back ground after a volatile start to the year as investors re-priced nuclear-linked names against fresh policy signals on how the U.S. will fund new power supply for data centers.
Governors from states inside the PJM grid footprint were expected to visit the White House on Friday to sign an agreement aimed at curbing rising electricity costs, including two-year price caps tied to future PJM power auctions and pushing new data center operators to take on more of the bill for grid expansion, two sources told Reuters. Senator Chris Van Hollen said consumers “shouldn’t have to foot the bill for big corporations’ massive expansion of data centers.” (Reuters)
A separate push around an emergency wholesale electricity auction would steer PJM toward 15-year contracts for new generation capacity, according to a Bloomberg report carried by the Los Angeles Times. “Pressure from the Trump administration and a bipartisan coalition of PJM states is very likely to motivate a considerable response” from the grid operator, Timothy Fox, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said in the report. (Los Angeles Times)
NuScale was last up 6% at $20.03, after touching $20.46 and dipping to $18.88 earlier in the session. About 20.6 million shares had changed hands by early afternoon, according to exchange data.
Other nuclear-adjacent names were firmer, with Oklo up about 3%, uranium supplier Centrus Energy up nearly 5% and Cameco up about 3%. Some power generators moved the other way, with Vistra down about 6% and Constellation Energy down nearly 10%.
The split matters for NuScale because it sits on the “build” side of the story. It is developing small modular reactors — smaller nuclear units designed to be built in factories and assembled on site — and has argued that the technology can help serve large, round-the-clock users such as industrial customers and data centers. (Reuters)
But the company also carries scars from the last cycle. NuScale agreed in 2023 with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to terminate a planned small reactor project after costs rose and some customers dropped out, a setback that underscored the financing and customer-commitment hurdles for first-of-a-kind reactors. (Reuters)
Even with policy tailwinds, the downside case is familiar: new auction rules may not stick, political pressure could fade, and nuclear projects can still run into long permitting timelines, cost inflation and funding gaps. For NuScale, any shift in expected power prices or contract structure can change the math for customers weighing long-dated nuclear builds against quicker options.
Investors now watch for the White House principles to translate into a PJM process — and for any signs that long-term capacity contracts are becoming real rather than rhetorical. NuScale is also scheduled to appear at the TD Securities 4th Annual Technology Winter Summit on January 26, while U.S. markets are shut on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, pushing the next full trading session to Tuesday. (NuScale Power)
