NuScale Power Sinks 7% as Nuclear Names Give Back a Month of Ground; Oklo Falls 6%, Centrus Energy Drops 4%

Nuclear reactor stocks are handing back a month of gains in a single session, and the steepest drops are falling on the companies still years away from a dollar of reactor revenue. Here is what the spread between winners and…

Published October 12, 2026, 11:40am ET · 3 min read

Market Movers desk. Editor: David Moadel.

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NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) stock is down 7% to $6.72 as nuclear power names retreat. That decline leaves NuScale Power shares down 53% year to date and below the $7.07 level that had marked their 52-week low. It’s the sharpest drop among the three nuclear names leading the sector lower.

Meanwhile, Oklo (NYSE:OKLO | OKLO Price Prediction) stock is at $32.72, down 6%, a slightly smaller drop than the decline in NuScale stock. Also in the red, Centrus Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:LEU) shares are at $137.09, down 4%, the smallest loss of the three. Such ordering suggests the market is marking down the companies whose revenue sits furthest out.

Fund-level readings point to a sector retreat. The Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEARCA:URA) is at $38.02, down 2%. By comparison, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is flat at $778.28, so the losses appear to be concentrated in the nuclear sector while the broad market holds steady.

The UBS Downgrade Still Hangs Over NuScale

UBS cut NuScale Power stock to a Sell rating on September 11, citing long construction timelines, limited firm customer commitments and expected cash burn. The downgrade precedes today’s drop, and the shares have fallen a long way since. Those concerns still frame the bear case as the wider theme cools off.

NuScale designs small modular reactors and earns revenue when utilities and industrial customers order them. Until firm orders arrive, cash keeps flowing out, which makes the company pre-revenue in the sense that matters. Its design remains the only small modular reactor certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a regulatory edge that hasn’t shielded NuScale stock from the theme-wide retreat.

Checking in on NuScale’s Peers

Oklo is also a reactor developer, building its Aurora powerhouse, now sized at up to 75 megawatts, with first commercial power targeted at Idaho National Laboratory by late 2027 or early 2028. Centrus Energy sits elsewhere in the chain as the only publicly traded, proven U.S. uranium enricher, supplying the fuel those reactors require. That business earns revenue today while reactor developers wait on future builds, and the smaller decline in Centrus Energy shares lines up with that gap.

As of July 31, the Global X URA fund held Oklo at 6.1% of net assets, Centrus Energy at 3.5% and NuScale Power at 3%. Beyond those three, the portfolio spans uranium miners, physical uranium vehicles, engineering firms and other fuel-cycle businesses. With all three movers inside the basket, the fund’s smallest decline shows how those other holdings are cushioning the blow.

Skeptics argue that a theme reset exposes a company with no signed commercial reactor contract and a cash burn that continues whatever its share price does. Yet, the bull case counters that the design is certified and the power demand behind the theme is still there (we laid out five ways to position for that expansion, utilities and fuel included, in a free nuclear stocks report), so a decline this size prices in a failure that hasn’t happened. Talks involving ENTRA1 Energy and the Tennessee Valley Authority, potentially the largest U.S. nuclear deployment program, plus the planned six-module RoPower project in Doicești, Romania, give that argument something concrete. Oklo bulls point to its Aurora timeline, while bears note first power is still years out. Centrus Energy bulls cite revenue earned today; bears note that hasn’t saved it from the sector selloff.

What to Watch Next

A signed commercial reactor order is what could decide the debate over NuScale Power, and it remains unresolved. Traders can watch for whether the company turns its Romanian project and Tennessee Valley Authority talks into binding orders, which could change how the market prices a company UBS noted for limited firm customer commitments.

For Oklo, the marker is progress toward first Aurora power; for Centrus Energy, it’s whether enrichment revenue keeps the stock trading apart from developers. Investors holding these names may want to scale their exposure knowing all three tend to fall together when the theme cools off.

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David Moadel

David Moadel is financial writer specializing in stocks, ETFs, options, precious metals, and Bitcoin. David has written well over 1,000 articles for leading online publications, helping investors understand markets, income strategies, and risk.His work has appeared in The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, U.S. News & World Report, TipRanks, ValueWalk, Benzinga, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, Finmasters, 24/7 Wall St., and others.With a master’s degree in education, David has taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels. That teaching background shapes his writing style: clear, educational, and practical. David has also built a loyal social-media audience by providing trustworthy financial content on YouTube, X/Twitter, and StockTwits.

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