Troubled small modular nuclear reactor developer NuScale (SMR:NYSE) has laid off about 40% of its staff, some 200 employees. While the company has not acknowledged the layoffs, Huffpost obtained a recording of the “virtual, all-hands meeting” at the company’s Portland, Ore., headquarters last Friday (Jan. 5). The online news service also had “Two sources with direct knowledge of NuScale’s plans.”
The Oregonian newspaper also confirmed the layoffs, noting, “NuScale had more than 550 employees at the start of the year. Its headquarters are in Portland but the vast majority of staff is in Corvallis. A 40% layoff could cost more than 200 people their jobs.” The initial design for the NuScale machines — a conservative approach that essentially scaled down conventional light water pressurized reactor designs — was developed at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Once the leading developer of the hyped new reactor approach designed to overcome the problems that have plagued conventional reactor designs since the 1970s — size, one-off-designs, construction obstacles, escalating costs, and slipping schedules — NuScale has been in a business nosedive almost since it went public in May 2022 through a streamlined “special purpose acquisition company” (SPAC). The company’s financial angel and largest shareholder has long been Fluor Corp.
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