Steel giant Nucor Corp. has pledged $15 million to the planned merger of NuScale Power LLC, a developer of nuclear small modular reactors, with a blank-check company.
NuScale executives have agreed to buy $15 million worth of shares of Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. via a private placement that will help fund the commercialization of NuScale’s technologies. NuScale and Spring Valley in December agreed to combine in a deal valuing the combined company at $1.9 billion. Among other backers of the project are Samsung C&T Corp., Segra Capital Management and Pearl Energy. NuScale is a subsidiary of engineering and construction conglomerate Fluor Corp., which will remain the entity’s majority owner once the Spring Valley transaction is completed.
“We are looking for safe and reliable sources of power generation that are consistent with our sustainability goals,” Leon Topalian, Nucor’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The continued development of small modular nuclear reactors is critical to ensure our nation has carbon-free, baseload power, which is why we are making this investment.”
The NuScale team has signed 20 memoranda of understanding with energy companies and other organizations to build their carbon-free small reactors across the world starting late this decade. By 2030, they expect the company, which today employs about 500 people, to book revenues of more than $10 billion and generate at least $3 billion in EBITDA.
Shares of Nucor (Ticker: NUE) were up slightly to nearly $147 in April 7 morning trading. They are up nearly 50% over the past six months, pushing the company’s market capitalization to about $40 billion.
