Nuclear's Labor Day News Dump: Nine Reactors And An IPO
Across the holiday and into Tuesday, the nuclear sector delivered news of a potential eight-reactor construction MOU, pricing details for Holtec's IPO, and a closed federal loan to resurrect another shuttered American nuclear plant.
The biggest headline is out of South Korea.
Korean outlets reported that Seoul and Washington are discussing a framework to jointly pursue up to eight large reactors in the US, with a memorandum of understanding potentially getting signed as early as September 18. The discussions sit within Korea's previously announced $350 billion US investment package.
Which reactors are actually going to be built under the 8-reactor project is apparently still in discussion. Some outlets are reporting that Washington wants all eight to use Westinghouse's AP1000 design, while Seoul wants at least two Korean APR1400s included. MoneyToday says a possible six-AP1000, two-APR1400 configuration.
Korea is likely looking for more opportunities to show off its mature, and larger, grid-scale reactor design that it hopes to export to additional countries.
Korea JoongAng Daily put the proposal at $120 billion, while MoneyToday reported $130 billion.
Second, Holtec finally put a price range on its long-discussed IPO.
The company kicked off its IPO road show Tuesday morning proposing 50 million shares at $15 to $18 each for a target raise of up to $900 million in proceeds. As has been widely reported, the company is targeting a valuation just over $10 billion.
The company looks to launch under the ticker HNUC and could be a breath of fresh air for a nuclear IPO space that's been mostly plagued by pre-revenue disappointments. Multiple reactor developers have gone public over the past couple years through SPACs and IPOs, with some of them performing as miserably as -80% within weeks of commencing trading.
As we noted when Holtec first filed confidentially, the company brings decades of operating history in spent-fuel storage, decommissioning and equipment manufacturing. Its Palisades restart and SMR-300 program manage to add significant growth ambitions to that established industrial base.
Big news for nuclear energy in Iowa! https://t.co/D5QhskZv0B
— Energy Dominance Financing (@DOE_EDF) September 8, 2026
EDF is financing the restart of the 615 MW Duane Arnold Energy Center, which will deliver reliable baseload power to the grid, boost grid resilience, and create thousands of construction & hundreds of operations jobs. pic.twitter.com/62QJvd4F1g
Lastly, NextEra came out of the holiday with another major piece of its Duane Arnold restart in place.
On Tuesday, the company and the DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) announced the closing of a loan of up to $1.9 billion. The financing supports the return of Iowa's 615 MW Duane Arnold Energy Center, which stopped operating in 2020 due to uneconomic conditions. The DOE celebrated it as the third financed nuclear power plant restart.
NextEra is targeting a restart no later than the first quarter of 2029, which could shift around significantly based on regulatory headaches or if any mechanical issues are discovered, similar to some of the headaches with the Palisades restart. Google's 25-year power purchase agreement helped underpin the project.