According to a recent article by OPB, Portland area-based NuScale Power plans to go public via a merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. (SVAC).
Founded by OSU Professor Emeritus, Dr. Jose Reyes, NuScale Power is the current industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced nuclear small modular reactor technology. SVAC is a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company that reached an agreement to create a first-of-its-kind energy company, which will be known as NuScale Power Corporation.
NuScale CFO Chris Colbert told OPB that, “[Going public] provides us access to the capital that we need to complete our commercialization to get our product to market in the way that we want to.”
The funds raised by going public will go toward extending the life of existing nuclear power plants, which will often include replacing reactors with NuScale’s newer models.
NuScale claims that when their reactors are properly paired in groups of four, six, or twelve, they can mimic the production of a coal-fired power plant, but with none of the heavy carbon emissions. With President Biden’s plan for the country to be carbon-free by 2035, this is good news. Colbert is insistent that this is the best way to achieve that goal.
He said, “Wind and solar with batteries will get you part of the way there, but they can’t get you the whole way there… That’s where nuclear plays a key role of complementing those resources to ensure that you have both affordable and reliable carbon-free electricity.”
Headquartered in Tigard, NuScale will merge with SVAC, a special purpose acquisition company which is already publicly traded. While similar mergers have seen investors pull out, leading to decreased income, Colbert seems unworried.
He said, “The proof is in the pudding, but based upon what we’ve done and our achievements so far, we believe as long as we continue to progress through our business plan and deliver those results we’ll be in good shape.”
The merger could bring in anywhere from $181 to $413 million, raising NuScale’s value to roughly $1.9 billion when all is said and done.
By Ethan Hauck
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