NuScale Power Corporation Class A

Good afternoon and welcome to New Scale's first quarter 2025 earnings results conference call. Today's call is being recorded. A replay of today's conference call will be available and accessible on New Scale's investor relations website. The web replay will be available for 30 days following the earnings call. At this time for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Rodney McMahon, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to New Scale's first quarter 2025 earnings results conference call. With us today are John Hopkins, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ramsey Hamadie, Chief Financial Officer. On today's call, we will provide an update on our business and discuss our quarterly financial results. We will then open the phone line for questions. This afternoon, we posted a set of supplemental slides on our investor relations website as reflected in the Safe Harbor statement on slide two, the information set forth in the presentation and discussed during the course of our remarks and the subsequent Q&A session includes forward looking statements. Which reflect our current views of existing trends and are subject to a variety of risk and uncertainty. You can find a discussion of our risk factors, which could potentially contribute to such differences in our 2024 annual report on Form 10K and subsequent SEC filings. I'll now turn the call over to John Hopkins, New Scale's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Rodney, and welcome to New Scale. Good afternoon, everyone. As 2025 progresses, I'm excited to share that New Scale continues to build momentum and strengthen its leadership position in the SMR space. We remain the only SMR company with US Nuclear Regulatory Commission design approval and we continue to advance our commercialization efforts. During the first quarter of 2025, we focused on deepening customer engagement and further enhancing our manufacturing and supply chain readiness, ensuring we remain on track to meet our 2030 delivery target. Today, I'll provide further insights into these initiatives and share updates on our business commercialization progress and market opportunities. Ramsey will follow with a financial update. Starting with a business update, the Road Power Project in Romania, as discussed on slide three, continues to move forward with a floor-led phase two front-end engineering and design, delivering meaningful revenue and cash flow for New Scale. Notably, we are on schedule to deliver the Class III estimate by this fall. Furthermore, discussions are underway to extend the project into the detailed design phase, a critical step that would enable the submission of a final investment decision application to the Romanian government by late Q1 or early Q2 2026. Moving on to slide four, let's shift to our commercialization progress. It's essential to reiterate that New Scale remains well ahead of its competition and continues to lead the market as the only near-term deployable SMR. As we have mentioned before, recently proposed non-lightwater SMR projects in the U.S. are still in what we call the demonstration phase, which means they still require a minimum of four years of operation before securing U.S. nuclear regulatory approval for commercial deployment. An important and rigorous regulatory requirement that New Scale has already achieved, which we believe sets us years ahead of the other players. To that end, we are pleased to report that our standard design approval application with the NRC, which aims to increase the power output per module from the previously approved 50 megawatt electric to 77 megawatt electric, continues to progress on schedule. We anticipate final approval by the NRC by July of this year. We are proud to be a first mover in the industry when it comes to manufacturing preparedness. A crucial step towards deployment, and we continue to gather early, valuable knowledge about the process that will only make it more streamlined and efficient, as well as enhanced scalability going forward. Turning to slide five, this was a pivotal quarter for our supplier working group. Another demonstration of our commitment to meeting our deployment plans. New Scale's team worked from on-site delivery days to identify key near-term supply chain actions that need to be completed to assure a 2030 delivery of our first New Scale power module. For example, during the first quarter, we conducted multiple pre-bid meetings with Doosan on an upper reactor pressure vessel fabrication proposal. Continued progress on long-lead material orders issued a preliminary scheduled delivery date notification to our field supplier, Framatone, for the initial core and initial order of control rod assemblies, and executed a neutron monitoring system supply agreement with Paragon. We also held a productive meeting with our supplier working group in April, where we continue to build and invest in strong relationships with our suppliers in anticipation of a near-term customer order. With more than 30 suppliers attending the meeting, we focused on critical path production items and identifying near-term supply chain investments. A strong supply chain is essential in successful deployment. And New Scale continues to be proud of our robust relationship with our valued suppliers. Now let's talk about market opportunity. Looking at slide 6, we remain confident that the growing interest in our technology and its critical use cases, as well as New Scale's distinct competitive edge in module manufacturing and fuel readiness, will result in a firm customer order during 2025. In collaboration with our exclusive commercialization partner, Interone Energy, we are in various stages of discussions with potential customers both here in the U.S. and abroad. Domestically, this includes discussions with government officials and industries, including data centers, utilities, coal plant operators transitioning to nuclear, and petrochemical and energy companies. Internationally, with stakeholders around the globe in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. On the data center front, Interone continues to lead discussions with major U.S. hyperscalers with a strong focus on powering AI operations. Potential customers continue to be attracted to Interone's commercial model, which is designed to provide financial flexibility while mitigating deployment risks. Of these customer discussions, I would classify upwards to 10 as advanced, many of which are progressive to the point of multiple iterations of term sheets exchanged between parties and customer site visits to Doosan's manufacturing facilities in South Korea, where New Scale power modules are being built. Across the board, we are continuously encouraged that both prospective customers in the broader market are better informed and more aware of the significance and advantages of New Scale's advanced SMR technology, in part due to our extensive outreach efforts. Now, I'd like to briefly discuss other applications of New Scale's technology beyond generating electricity, as shown on slide seven. One of these applications drawing a significant amount of attention is the production of carbon-free hydrogen. And we believe New Scale is uniquely positioned to lead in this space. We are proud to be the first SMR company to integrate hydrogen production systems in controls into a multi-module main control room simulator, enabling efficient carbon-free hydrogen production. Notably, our solution is designed to meet the needs of commercial scale industrial applications requiring over 200 metric tons of hydrogen per day. Our presentation at the World Petrochemical Conference in March, where we were the only nuclear company to present, introduced an approach to produce a hydrogen carrier from the brine waste generated by desalinization. Consistent with our mission to provide both clean energy and clean water. We've attracted strong interest from major industrial players and we look forward to future collaborations to cement our leadership in this space. As we look to the future of SMRs in the nuclear field, I want to take a moment to note the recent opening of three new New Scale Energy Exploration Centers at leading universities. Soon we'll be opening two additional centers, bringing the total to 11. These innovative learning environments that stimulate a New Scale SMR control room, as well as New Scale's licensed operator training program, are helping to prepare the next generation of nuclear talent. And we are proud to partner in this important effort. Lastly, I want to share that New Scale is actively assessing the potential impact of tariffs on our operations in the current market environment. At this time, we did not anticipate any material impact. However, we remain vigilant and monitoring the situation. We're also working closely with our suppliers to ensure operational continuity and are prepared to address any changes proactively to mitigate potential risk. This is an important year for New Scale and we've made steadfast in our commitment to delivering sustainable, carbon-free electricity to end users worldwide. I am proud of where we are today and look forward to updating you all on our progress over the course of 2025. The demand for clean, reliable energy has never been more pronounced and we have an exciting future ahead. Now, over to Ramsey for the financial update.

Thank you, John. And hello, everyone. Our financial results are available in our filings. So my focus will be on explaining major line items, which can be found on slide eight. New Scale's overall liquidity improved during the period, ending the first quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $491.4 million and short-term investments of $30 million. The primary driver of this increase was our successful sale of $4.5 million shares through our ATM program during the quarter, generating $102.4 million in gross proceeds. Our strong balance sheet positions us to continue bolstering our manufacturing and supply chain preparedness as we drive towards commercialization. For the quarter ended March 31st, 2025, New Scale reported revenue of $13.4 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company reported revenue of $1.4 million. This increase was driven by fees received from the engineering and licensing work and other services we provide in support of the Rho Power project. Operating expenses were $42.3 million for the quarter ended March 31st, 2025, compared to $44.6 million during the same period in the prior year. More notably, operating expenses since the beginning of 2024 are well below the $69.9 million per quarter average in 2023. This material reduction underscores New Scale's commitment to streamline costs and improve operational efficiency. Looking ahead, we are excited about the next phase of growth. As John highlighted, this is a pivotal year for New Scale and the solid start we had in the first quarter positions as well to maintain and build upon the momentum. I will conclude my remarks with a brief view of our capitalization summary on slide nine. Additional information may be found in our 10Q and earnings release, both followed with SEC. With that, I'd like to thank you again for joining today and for your continued support of New Scale. We'll now take questions. Operator?

Thank you. And we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one a second time. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset and ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, it is star one if you would like to join the queue. And our first question comes from the line of Mark Bianchi with TD Cowan. Your line is open.

Hi, thanks. Hi, guys. I was pleased to see the outlook to have a firm customer order by the end of 2025. Can you talk about what that means? How do you define that? Is that the customer reaching a final investment decision? Is it some other intermediate threshold that needs to be crossed to sort of fall into that category? And then what are the events that need to unfold to get to that?

Hey, Mark. This is John Hopkins. How are you doing? Let me just start by saying, you know, we're I think we mentioned the last earning calls. Our focus right now is to get closure on near term contracts. We are no longer chasing or announcing MOUs. Where we are with our current customers and then we're in discussions with right now, as I commented earlier, we're actually in the process of submittal and negotiating term sheets. We've got customers that are wanting to go to do so and actually go touch steel and see our modules online and in production. In fact, I'm going to be in Korea with an executive team of a prospective customer this June. So, you know, the ground swell continues to build. I spoke with the CEO of New Coelector today on Romania. We're keeping a close thumb on the pulse there. There's, you know, they're having presidential elections coming up this coming Sunday. But so far they're, you know, paying their bills and the team is working well together and Flora is still leading as a prime for the front end engineering design. So, you know, I feel pretty comfortable that, you know, this is going to be a pivotal year. I'm appreciative of this administration and things that I'm hearing coming out of both Secretary Wright and Secretary Burgum in terms of advanced new nuclear and that needs to be quickly put into the energy mix. So, you know, we're not in discussions about LCOE or we're beyond that with these customers. Now it's, you know, discussions of getting long term power purchase agreements negotiated in place. So we're working diligently on getting that done. So I'm pretty excited where we are right now in our space.

Okay. Thanks for that, John. I guess you mentioned, you know, the administration and their support for nuclear. There was some news last week about some draft executive orders from the White House to sort of help streamline the, I guess, the licensing process. Can you talk about sort of what, you know, could potentially be done that would streamline permitting? Because my understanding is that NRC is supposed to be kind of like the Fed and sort of, you know, you can't be, White House can't be telling them what to do. But just kind of curious what might be some low hanging fruit to streamline the process.

Yeah, actually, I'm at a SMR conference this week. In fact, right now, meeting with customers and our suppliers here. And that's kind of the talk of what's going on. I think everybody's trying to figure it out what it means. It's too early really to ascertain. But, you know, thankfully, you know, I'm in the process right now. We've had ongoing meetings with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and ACRS. I feel very comfortable in our discussions that we're on track to get, you know, closure on our 77 megawatt this July. So we're still on track of the NRC schedule. Hopefully we can beat it. But I feel pretty comfortable in terms of streamlining. I just can't envision that that we're going to take the rigor of safety away. Are there areas of license that can be streamlined in a few other areas? Absolutely. But I'm just thankful we are in a good place right now as a company having gone through the licensing with 50 megawatts, having got the methodology approved for emergency planning, zone and site boundary, by the way, took us seven years to get that done. And then, you know, now once, you know, I'm kind of staying low key. I want to get to 77 megawatt approved in July and really hit the ground running. Yep. Great. Thanks,

John. I'll turn it back.

And our next question comes from Sharif Ehab Elmaghrabi with BTIG. Your line is open.

Hey, thanks for taking my question. You have long lead items in the works for a dozen or half a dozen unclaimed modules, depending on how you want to slice it. So how quickly and you talked about order by the end of the year, how quickly after booking an order could New Scale turn around and deliver modules if it was a U.S. power plant?

Well, you know, I made the comment previously, if you haven't ordered long lead items, we started this process a few years ago. So Doosan was originally slated to do, you know, six of the modules of the F Reactor vessel. We just put a placement in recently for six more. So, you know, if we're going to adhere to a 2020 or the end of this decade, let's say, COD, that's what we've been working with our supply chain to get, ensure we can make that. If in fact now, I got to tell you, you know, as the window keeps pushing out, you know, can we do 2030? Yes, if we get closure on a deal here soon, if we don't, then it gets pushed out to 2031. But our suppliers and I got to tell you, Doosan has spent a lot of their own capital betting on to come with New Scale. We, you know, they're doing our helical coil steam generators right now. They went out and acquired two bending equipment. And that's why we're excited now that we're in a place to bring customers to Doosan manufacturing and see and actually see where we are in the process. And they're very far along.

Maybe I can add a little bit to your comment. We call them or you call them, I think, unclaimed modules. I think of those really as long lead materials, which we're producing for our first contract. And we anticipate that once we sign a contract with our business model, we'll see cash flow immediately in relation to the modules. We believe that once we sign a contract with a major customer, that we'll receive payments in relation to the modules, we'll receive positive cash flow. Remember, New Scale has a few different revenue sources. We have pre-engineering services. We have the sales of the modules and we have some post delivery services. But in relation to the sale of the modules, we expect somewhere around 25 percent of the cost of the modules to come in the first year and for New Scale to be cash flow positive from that perspective. So I think that that contract will be important for us. It'll be pivotal in terms of pushing our balance sheet and our cash flow towards a cash flow positive position. And that's why we're producing today because we anticipate that sale to be in near term events.

According, Ramsey.

Got it. That's really helpful, Keller, actually. And then maybe just, you know, you've answered a couple of my questions. So just kind of a simple one. But on slide three, when we talk about extension of phase two for Rho Power for the first quarter of next year, what does that entail?

Ramsey. Sure. I think Rho Power has taken a very sensible measured approach to the development of the project, the SMR project in Votest. And currently the scope of feed phase two and in fact it is a two-step FID. And I think what Rho Power now is looking at is we went and they scoped the first step and they're pushing forward very deliberately and very steady on that pathway. And I believe Rho Power now is looking to fund the feed phase two for the second step of FID. So really it's just greater assurance, I think, on our side and greater assurance to the market that ultimately at the end of feed phase two, Rho Power will have completed sufficient engineering studies to get to an FID, which is final investment decision, and they will take a view of moving forward with the project. So we see it as a very positive idea. We're thrilled that Rho Power is doing that and we're here to support them at every step of the way.

Yeah, Ramsey and I actually met with the CEO of Nuclear Electrica last week in Washington, D.C. So their FID or final investment decision is still looking to be latter part of 25 or early 2026 as of target.

Got it. That's a great caller. Thanks, and I'll turn it over.

Thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of George Gianarakis with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.

Thank you for taking my question. I'm curious, in terms of this form, what do you expect by the end of the year? You sort of articulated a series of customer conversations that you're having, multiple shots on goal. How likely is it that one of these customers could be a large tech company versus some of the other descriptions that you made during the call? Thank you.

I think it could very well be. You know, we have non-disclosure agreements with the tier ones on the AI side. And, you know, Google's and the Amazons have made some announcements, but trust me, they, I was speaking with one of the tier ones today here at this conference. They need a lot of energy. And in terms of near-term deployable, and you've got to remember, you know, as far as I know, no other technology has even submitted a design certification application to the NRC as yet. You know, so, you know, when we get that 77 megawatt power up rate, we're fully licensed under a Part 52 not only to construct, but to operate. So if they really truly need power now, we are near-term deployable, George.

George, I may add that when we look at projects, you know, we talk about who the customer is and the possibility that one of our customers is a hyperscaler tier one data center AI developer. And I think it's important to understand that our projects are complex and really the customer in many cases will be the developer who's developing the plant and purchasing the SMRs from the E-scale. Supporting that idea will be a power purchase agreement and a buyer and a power user, which we anticipate would be a tier one data center or AI developer. But there's many others within that ecosystem of us developing the first deal. And that includes having a site, includes a site operator, most likely in the foreign utility, our exclusive development partner, Entra One, and Capital to support the deal. So I hate to mince words for the sake of precision, but I think it's meaningful. So there's a number of entities that will be involved in announcing the first project and the tier one AI data center, which we hope will be involved in the first project, will really be the power user versus the direct customer to new scale who's buying SMRs.

Thanks. And maybe for a second question, you did a nice job this quarter with cash management, cash increased sequentially. Can you just help us again, maybe articulate again how much what we should expect for quarterly cash for the foreseeable future?

Sure. I think we've, you know, George, I think we've done a good job. And you scale has done a good job of showing steady optics over the last, probably the last five quarters or so through 2024 into Q1 2025. We kept optics between 41 or so, 41 to 44 million. If we look at cash flow from operations, it fluctuates a little bit. For example, in Q4, we had to have a boost from some one time type payments in relation to technology like to even with Rho Power, but we continue to derive revenue from that project. So if I look at just just like an optics cash burn, it's still in that range. Let's say 40, 45 million a quarter. We'll probably push it up a little bit as we invest in our supply chain. That's something that we're actively doing now because we anticipate a near term project and we're focused on supply chain manufacturing and delivery dates and revenue. I think we'll stay fairly steady throughout this year. So more reflective of our Q1 25 revenue versus our Q4 2024 revenue, but stay state revenue to offset some of the optics. And I think you'll see that pretty consistent, George, until the time that we get to the announcement of a project. And we think in your term cash inflow and relation to the modules. So, you know, no surprises, nothing, nothing wavelength, very steady, very deliberate on behalf of management. Probably try and keep our cash position about the same. We think we have two years or so of operating runway just based on just based on where we are today, just based on what we have, what cash we have and what we bring in, what we spend. And that will change only when we get a project. And I think it'll change in a positive way for the company and for our liquidity position.

Thank

you. Thank you, George.

And our next question comes from Craig Share with Twoey Brothers. Your line is open.

Hi, thanks for taking the questions. Thanks. So, I mean, let's talk about, you know, possibly hitting the trifecta. I mean, do you have bandwidth in your supply chain and with Entra 1 capacity to support a couple initial projects that could be, you know, deployed in the early, very early 2030s, either two 12 modules or 12 and a six. Could you swing to kind of back to back?

Yeah, Design has the capacity to put out about 20 modules a year. We're also in discussions with other of our key suppliers such as IHI Manufacturing in Japan. So, and we had the supplier day in April. We had 30 US suppliers and international show up in Charlotte. So what we're keeping very close eye on is to your point, we don't want to overextend our capacity to execute. So in our model is just what you said. It's always been, you know, these are fungible assets that are going to be built in a factory and shipped to multiple locations. So, you know, we don't want a one off project at a time. We want multiple projects. So we're looking right now to see to your question. What's it going to take if we had two projects simultaneously show up? Do we in fact have the capacity to commit? And that's what we're looking at right now.

Gotcha. And honestly,

I just want to get one hard contract right now. One to showcase the world. And, you know, we're we're very careful. We're not, you know, a mile wide and deep. We're staying focused and staying in our swim lane. And as I said, progress is being made.

Gotcha. So and to the degree you could swing to relatively concurrent projects. And I suppose at least from your own financial standpoint, to the degree you're getting upfront payments that that is doable from from your perspective. Maybe even with with some, you know, more proactive customer support, you know, for for the equipment, upfront equipment. Is it plausible to do 212 modules within, you know, kind of COD within a year ish?

My answer is yes. You know, again, Ramsey said, you know, this is a complicated process. What New Scale is, and I keep using this analogy, we're the Intel inside of Dell Computer. I bring I we put modules, which I said are fungible assets into an owner's power plant. So a lot of it has to do commensurate with the owner and their capacity to put together who the contractors are. So it's it's complex. But, you know, again, that is our model. Continue to build out a robust supply chain. And what are these suppliers like about New Scale? They see sustainable opportunity. This is not just one off plants one at a time. This is going to be hopefully our objective is to do, to your point, multiple plants at any given time. Ramsey interrupted. I'm sorry.

No, I was going to make the comment that we tend to be pretty conservative when we look at how we ramp up. I think I think today there's expectation that our supply chain could take up to 20 modules a year. And I'll be honest, in my financial modeling, I'm more conservative. But supply chain isn't static. And money, money instigates money and instigates investment. And I think that our supply chain has been great partners, great, great, great partners. And we have bolstered up. We have invested in supply chain with invest in design, foundation and our supply chain partners have invested in that as well. Once we have a first contract, I think you'll see more money going into the supply chain in order to increase capacity. We believe that getting the first contract is difficult, but we think there's going to be a lot of fast seconds. And, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll be in a great place if our biggest challenge is keeping up with orders. But we anticipate that that's where we'll be. And we anticipate that our supply chain partners will invest for the capacity. And we're planning for that already. So, you know, I don't know that we're able to fulfill two or three orders at once in the first year. I don't think that's reasonable. The nuclear supply chain is tight. It's very specific. There's a limited number of suppliers. But fortunately, we're the first SMR company to go into production. We're the first one. We've been working on a supply chain. I've been working with those partners for seven, eight years already. So I think we're well positioned to increase capacity in the supply chain and be the company that's able to deliver in volume relative to our competitors.

Great. That's helpful. And my second. So, I mean, you only burn through less than 23 million of operating cash flow in the quarter. And you've got a fair amount of liquidity and you seem to be indicating that you're anticipating at least one order that will turn you cash flow positive in whatever the next two, three quarters. So what's the rationale for continuing to hit the ATM? And could we assume that that may slow or cease in the near future?

Well, one point is that especially on earnings calls in a public setting, I make no forward looking comments on the ATM. But I will say that we manage cash conservatively. We've done so in the past. We've raised capital. And if you look at our slide, page eight, going from less than 200 million and Q1, Q2, Q3 of 24, now up to cash reserves of 526.5 million. We've done a great job in solidifying a liquidity position. And I intend to keep about two years worth of cash flow. I think that's the smart conservative thing to do. I anticipate a project coming this year. I anticipate a project coming soon. But I don't plan our financial outlook based on anticipate commercial activities. I plan it based on a conservative scenario. And so again, without making any forward looking statements on whether we hit the ATM, I think it's clear our cash position and our revenue relative to our OPEX makes our cash needs pretty low in order to maintain a two year cash position. And we'll remain vigilant and we'll take advantage of positive market positions if they exist. But there's no, looking at our balance sheet, you couldn't see a large need for a big kind of follow on or some convert or some sort of event like that. That's just not where we are in our development. We've gone through, we've done the spending for R&D. Now we're really just investing in our supply chain and manufacturing readiness. And those are slightly different ideas.

So two years, it sounds like, you know, in answer to your Georgia's question, I think you said like 41 million quarterly OPEX, give or take. So it's eight times that number is the minimum you want to maintain until you have a hard contract?

Yeah, yeah. But you know, we'll be pushing up some of the investments in supply chain because we believe we're nearing a commercial project. As we near the commercial project, we're investing in the long-wave materials. So investing in some of the components that will go into modules and we're investing in design finalization and we invest in our suppliers. So that may bump up a little bit, but we're taking this pretty conservatively. Right. I do believe that we have a project just around the corner. I do believe that we're responsible, steward of capital to our shareholders. We're not just pushing cash into the market willy-nilly. So, you know, even the numbers I present, the 40 to 45 million, these are the 500 plus million worth of cash, would seem to instigate an idea of greater than two years runway, especially when you add some revenue there. Right. Because it lowers the burn rate. But I'd like to keep two years runway. I foresee OpEx moving up just a little bit and we remain conservative in how we look at the markets and potentially raise money. Again, as market conditions permit us to, but we haven't done any large capital raises. We haven't introduced something, nothing strange into our cap structure. We haven't introduced convertibles or we're derivative liabilities that's going to impact our shareholders. We're trying to remain very conservative, very, very steady, very, very consistent. Consistency and being steady and not surprising anyone is the key to, I think, good financial stewardship. And that's what we're trying to show. That's why our OpEx is so steady. Quarter on quarter, it's just very, very consistent. And we intend to maintain that level or a little bit higher level of OpEx just investing into supply chain.

Thank

you. Yeah, thank you.

And our next question comes from the line of Ryan Finkst with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.

Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions and I appreciate all the details so far. Just a quick one for the 10th customer discussions that you're considering advanced. Are those all around US data center related projects or is there anything in there that's not data center related or not US?

No, it's not all data centers. I put those three components of what we see the market right now. There's the coal plant replacement. We've got a lot of coal plants coming offline at the end of this decade. That market is still there. We're in discussions with process companies that have interest in energy for process heat or energy for ammonia production. And interestingly, those particular customers that we're talking don't necessarily want to own a nuclear asset, but they want as clean, reliable 24-7 energy. This is where the BOOT BOO intro one model comes to play. And then the third one, to your point, and the elephant in the room is AI and soon to be quantum, just huge amounts of energy. So in part of these sales, it's working with the state, it's working with utility, working with an AI company, and then working with our developer to bring it all together. So that's the degree of complexity that Ramsey was alluding to. It's not necessarily just AI.

Got it. That's helpful. Thanks, John. And then just one on Romania. Can you give more detail on what goes into the class three estimate you expect to deliver to ROE Power this fall and what the next steps are for you and for in between that and FID?

Yeah, you know, as they comment, we are a subcontractor to floor. They are the prime on this particular project. The class three estimate just gets ROE Power in a better position just to understand the cost to complete and what's going to take them for the next step. So, you know, as I said, we're keeping vigilant on there is an election coming up. I did speak with the CEO of Nucleotrica today. And he said so far, they've had no indications of any slowdown. And but, you know, we'll see what happens after Sunday with the new president. But, you know, Romania, what I like about a Romanian, they have nuclear, you know, they have candy reactors that they're refurbishing. They have a strong regulator and regulators actually working, you know, with discussions with the NRC. Romania would like to see themselves positioned for Central Eastern Europe to be a manufacturing facility. So I think from what I'm hearing is the ground smoke continues to build for that particular country. And, you know, again, we hope it just we're hopeful that this thing after the elections will have a better sense, you know, probably in a couple two weeks if there's going to be any changes. But right now it looks to be as far as what we've been told, things are continuing to move forward.

Got it. Appreciate that detail. I'll turn it back.

And our next question comes from Eric Stein with Craig Hallam. Your line is open.

Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. Hey, good afternoon. So many of my questions, obviously answered a lot of detail in the call. So thank you for that. But what I kind of keep thinking about, obviously, this has been really important as you've gone through the regulatory process and everything that you have accomplished over many years. But I'm just curious, the importance of light water technology rather than, you know, some of the other advanced reactors and technologies that don't have the operating history of what yours is based on, you know, how that has played in discussions with customers. Clearly, I mean, even in the last two months, right, your tone is different, it seems. It seems like some of these opportunities have accelerated. And I, you know, I know part of it is obviously what you're doing in the supply chain. That's key. But just curious how the basis being light water reactor technology plays into all of it.

When I hear the word advanced nuclear, I immediately come to mind of new scale. If you're really looking for a truly advanced SMR, it's new scale. I think Dr. Jose Reyes, because I've often asked him, you know, did you look at other fuel sources? You know, we have the ability to burn mixed oxide fuel. We have the ability, we could burn thorium. And we've done a lot of studies to justify that. But the fact is, as I mentioned before, the regulators around the world, they know light water. The NRC regulators, you know, 70 years of experience in this technology with light water. And so I think, you know, it took us 42 months, even though to get through that NRC process. And a lot of it was to have to scale up. But that's how we ended up spending so much money to prove the NRC that, you know, we don't need a lot of the components of a gigawatt size reactor. You know, our fuel is conventional fuel. We don't have a need for more. You know, our fuel is less than 5% enriched. We don't need up to 19% halo high assay fuel. And as you know, that fuel is not commercially readily available for scale in this country. So I think there are a lot of distinctives. And once that's why it's so important to get to 77 complete because then we are truly we have the ability not only go construct a plant, you can construct plants, but you can't operate it without an operating license. So we went under part 52 where we construct and operate a plant, you know, via the part 52 NRC. So, you know, I want others. I don't want to be a monopoly. I want others to be successful. But I think we're still in a very good position to be the first mover.

No, absolutely. And, you know, curious. Also, just, you know, it seemed like for a bit of time, the fact that you were ahead and that you were, as you said, you know, you can be, I guess I'm forgetting the exact term you use, but deployable right in the near term.

That

might have been something that that, you know, kind of, I don't I don't want to say scared counterparties, but, you know, it's like if they're if they're going to talk with you about something, you know, they better be prepared to move forward to just, I mean, obviously the urgency in some of these applications is what pushing people to be the first. And as Ramsey said, you know, many seconds to follow. So I don't even know if that was a question, but anyway, thanks a lot.

Thank you.

And that concludes our question and answer session.

Well, thank you, operator. I'm sorry.

No, please go ahead, Mr. Hopkins.

I just wanted to end up by saying, you know, we, we truly believe new scale is leading the way in the SMR industry. We believe we're uniquely positioned to commercialize and deliver clean energy at scale. With new technology becoming increasingly vital to meeting global energy demands, we are both excited and proud to be at the forefront, delivering safe, reliable and scalable carbon free power. So I'd like to thank all of you. Thank you for your interest in new scale and for joining our call today. Operator.

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. And we thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.