In case you didn’t know yet, 2025 will be the year of Nuclear. That was my new year's prediction and I’m sticking to it… Which brings me to NuScale Power… a name that’s getting a lot more google searches lately. Whether you love it, hate it, or are just plain confused by it, one thing’s certain… you can’t ignore it. Over the past year, its shares have shot up 800%, only to faceplant with a 39% drop in December. But I believe that NuScale might just be a top Nuclear play this year if you can stomach the volatility.

NuScale’s pitch is all about Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)... compact nuclear reactors that promise to be safer, cheaper, and faster to deploy. They’re built off-site, shipped like oversized LEGO sets, and assembled on location (minus the Allen wrench). It’s a clever concept with some serious potential.

In a major win, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has already approved NuScale’s 50-megawatt reactor design, making it the first SMR to earn regulatory approval. (This is huge, because without the NRC’s blessing, these reactors are just expensive lawn decorations.) The downside? At 50 megawatts, they don’t generate enough power to compete with coal plants… yet. NuScale’s next move is its 77-megawatt reactor, which it hopes will get NRC approval by 2025. If that happens, it could finally prove these reactors are more than just a science experiment competing with Sam Altman’s latest startup. (Let’s hope they don’t fumble the bag before then.)

The timing couldn’t be better. The global SMR market is expected to grow at a blistering 30% annual rate through 2043. If NuScale can keep pace, its revenue could skyrocket from $23 million today to an impressive $4.5 billion over the next two decades. Nuclear energy is having a moment. AI companies are building energy-hungry data centers, corporations are racing to hit carbon-neutral targets, and even Amazon is exploring nuclear energy. (When Jeff Bezos shows interest, you know it’s serious.) It’s no wonder investors are paying attention.

The problem is that NuScale is spending money faster than it can make it. The company is burning through $150 million annually and raised $227.7 million this year by redeeming warrants. Great, right? Except it’s been diluting shareholder value so much, you’d think they were running a charity for stock buyers. And then there’s the insider activity. Over the past year, insiders have sold nine times as many shares as they’ve bought. (Yes, nine times. Read that again.) CEO John Hopkins sold $11.99 million worth of shares, leaving himself with just 34,675 shares. He claims it’s all part of a pre-arranged plan, but it’s definitely something to investigate before jumping in.

Despite the negatives we’ve talked about today, NuScale has some serious tailwinds. The U.S. Department of Energy is offering $900 million in funding for SMR development, and South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility is on board as a supplier.

If NuScale can get its 77-megawatt reactors approved, scale production, and convince investors it’s more than just PowerPoint slides, the upside could be huge. Sure, that’s a lot of "ifs" to line up, but if you’re still reading, you’re here for the potential (aka lottery tickets), not slow and steady.

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