US small modular reactor company NuScale Power aims to have “hard contracts” with “two or three major customers” by the end of 2025, chief executive officer John Hopkins told investors and analysts.

Hopkins’ comments came as the company reported a significant jump in expenses in its Q2 2025 earnings update. It attributed the change to “higher business development costs associated with NuScale’s transition from a research and development-based company to a commercial company”.

NuScale and its developer partner Entra1, a US-based energy production company which is developing, financing and owning plants, have yet to finalise a deal, but “we’re getting inundated now” with prospective customers following the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) approval in May of NuScale’s 77-MW power module, Hopkins said.