NuScale Power drops 7% as nuclear stocks unwind rally

NuScale Power dropped 7% to $8.45 in midday trading on Friday, 18 September 2026, surrendering gains from a policy-driven advance posted a day earlier. The move leaves the stock down 40% year to date.

The pullback followed Wednesday's passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act in the House of Representatives. The measure requires large energy users such as data centers to pay directly for the generation, transmission, and grid upgrades needed to serve them, rather than distributing those expenses across utility customers. That vote lifted small modular reactor developers on expectations of higher demand for dedicated power, but the enthusiasm proved short-lived.

Market sentiment also weakened after Holtec International cancelled its planned initial public offering on Wednesday. Holtec's chief executive attributed the cancellation to a perfect storm as financial markets turned against the artificial intelligence data center economy, noting that the business is closely linked to data centers.

The decline extended across the nuclear sector. Oklo shares fell 5% to $37.57 and Centrus Energy slipped 3% to $144.66. Meanwhile, the Global X Uranium ETF dropped 2%, compared to a 0.1% decline in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, pointing to a sector-specific rotation rather than broad equity weakness.