Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Stocks Plunge as Short Sellers Pocket $2.1 Billion in One Year
Nashnova编辑部
SMR stocks have shed a combined $30.3 billion in market cap since their October peak, while funds shorting the three leading names netted roughly $2.1 billion in profit — the AI-power narrative has faded, and zero-revenue valuations are deflating one by one.
Where did the $2.1 billion in short profits come from?
According to S3 Partners, funds shorting NuScale Power, Nano Nuclear, and Oklo — three U.S.-listed SMR plays — collected a combined $2.1 billion over the past year.
All three companies share one trait: they are loss-making, with little to no revenue, yet their stocks surged last year on the AI-datacenter power-demand narrative.
This means → the shorts did not bet against nuclear energy itself; they bet that valuations had far outrun any realistic commercialization timeline.
Why did the stocks soar — and then crash?
Three forces inflated prices last year: AI hyperscale datacenters hungry for new power sources + the Trump administration promising deregulation + an extreme scarcity of tradable SMR names, which funneled capital into a tiny pool.
Adam Stein, nuclear innovation director at the Breakthrough Institute, called it "a textbook hype cycle" — prices "built on speculation," "very typical for early-stage companies with no stable revenue."
In plain terms = too few SMR stocks, too much money, too compelling a story — the price inflated like a balloon, and when it leaked, the damage was $30.3 billion.
Have the shorts closed out?
Not yet. S&P Global Market Intelligence data show roughly 18% of the float in Oklo and NuScale is still on loan for shorting; Nano Nuclear sits near 30%.
Christian Putz, founder of ARR Investment Partners, has closed his Oklo short but notes sentiment has shifted sharply this year: "People are far more critical now" — these companies have "virtually zero revenue for the foreseeable future, layered on top of enormous capex needs."
This reflects a market view that the valuation correction is far from over — not that the story is dead.
How has X-energy performed since listing?
X-energy — backed by Amazon and Ken Griffin — has lost roughly $5.8 billion in market cap since its April IPO. S3 Partners estimates shorts have earned about $67 million from the stock since mid-May.
The company's helium-cooled reactor — a design that uses helium gas instead of water as coolant — has not yet received full regulatory approval. About 9% of its shares are currently on loan.
This means → even top-tier capital backing cannot hold up a valuation when there is no regulatory sign-off and no revenue.
What is the market watching next?
Holtec International and Westinghouse, both with SMR divisions, are expected to list in the coming weeks. The market views these IPOs as a key test of real investor appetite for the nuclear sector.
On the technology side, SMR units could enter commercial operation as early as mid-to-late 2028, but most projects will slip into the 2030s. BNP Paribas analysts have flagged concerns over a shortage of HALEU fuel — high-assay low-enriched uranium, a specialized fuel that SMRs require.
NuScale posted a $96.7 million loss in H1 2026 and faces a shareholder class-action lawsuit with a September 8 response deadline. Put simply = with zero revenue and a long timeline, SMR valuations can only rebuild once the commercialization schedule narrows credibly.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.