Nuscale Power Corp Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Eric Stine - Craig Hallum - Analyst : So I know -- I mean this -- I know this happened recently, but just curious your thoughts on the FERC rejection of Talen in the Amazon data center. And obviously, it would seem to me that it proves out the need for SMRs, incremental power baseload, zero emissions, et cetera. Just curious, I mean, again, I know it's early, right, it just happened. But is that something that you expect to drive further interest from your pipeline and new customers?

Question: Eric Stine - Craig Hallum - Analyst : Got it. Is it a -- I mean, because SMRs would be incremental power, to me, that was the biggest thing, right? That part of the reason this was rejected at least for now is because it would be taking electrons from someone else rather than incremental power at the site of use.

Question: Eric Stine - Craig Hallum - Analyst : Okay. Fair enough. I guess second one for me, just good to hear on the uprate progress or the expectation that's on track for mid '25. I mean maybe just remind me what -- the importance of that for part 52 approval, whether it's ENTRA1 or someone else goes through that process. And just curious also, I know you've got a big pipeline. Are there customers who are kind of waiting on that uprate approval before moving forward?

Question: Marc Bianchi - TD Cowen - Analyst : I guess Ramsey, you just mentioned those other announcements. I was curious, was NuScale involved in some of those discussions? And were there any aspects of the way those arrangements were put together that are maybe, I don't know, not part of how you guys would want to have your business model put together? I'm just kind of curious at your reaction to the details of those announcements. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 07, 2024 / 10:00PM, SMR.N - Q3 2024 Nuscale Power Corp Earnings Call

Question: Marc Bianchi - TD Cowen - Analyst : Okay. Great. The other thing that I noticed, which is there was a $20 million customer deposit announced in the quarter here when I look at the cash flow statement. Was that -- is that related to RoPower? Or is there another customer involved there?

Question: Marc Bianchi - TD Cowen - Analyst : Yes, indeed, it is. The other one I had was just on the FEED study with RoPower. So we got that document, and it looks like kind of the time line there would have you with a Class 3 estimate in June of '25, if I've kind of worked it out properly. Is that -- should we be expecting any kind of an update around that time? Will we see -- will we get any kind of indication of how the cost is looking for the project? Is that a milestone where I think back to the experience with UAMPS, the costs were changing and that ended up being something that got a lot of attention. Is there going to be some kind of an update related to that with this project? Or is it an entirely different process? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 07, 2024 / 10:00PM, SMR.N - Q3 2024 Nuscale Power Corp Earnings Call

Question: Leanne Hayden - Canaccord Genuity - Analyst : Just the first one from me. Given higher enrichment fuel momentum, government incentives and the recent hyperscaler commitments and the fuel that they intend to use, I'm wondering about your module fuel flexibility, i.e., could you use LEU+ or HALEU fuel to drive higher power output per module?

Question: Leanne Hayden - Canaccord Genuity - Analyst : Understood. Just following up on that, do you think if you were to increase the uranium-235 enrichment in your fuel, that it would have any impact in your passive safety mechanism and smaller EPZ?

Question: Maxwell Hopkins - CLSA - Analyst : So I have a question, I don't know if you can provide clarity, but on this Department of Energy $800 million light-water reactor program, is that -- obviously, there's the developers, the EPCs, the power plant. To bring that forward, do you guys need to sign a deal and then bid? Or can you attract a deal and then with the Department of Energy put together the team? How is that looking?

Question: Maxwell Hopkins - CLSA - Analyst : Okay. And then one more, if you don't mind. Obviously, there's all the data centers talking about needing the power now, and SMRs are years away at this point. Doesn't that lend itself to natural gas development right now? Is that fair to say?

Question: Ryan Pfingst - B. Riley Securities - Analyst : The first one, with the uprate approval expected in the middle of next year, can you just remind us, is that specifically for the 6-module design? And if it is, what's your expectation for getting approval for the 12-module design in terms of NRC-related costs or time lines there, given you already have the work done with the 6? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 07, 2024 / 10:00PM, SMR.N - Q3 2024 Nuscale Power Corp Earnings Call

Question: Ryan Pfingst - B. Riley Securities - Analyst : Got it. And then, John, in the prepared remarks, you talked about it a little bit with the change of administration and nuclear has garnered really strong bipartisan support. But do you see kind of stronger support from a Trump administration and new programs given the Republican sweep that you might not have seen from the last administration?