ENTRA1 TVA NuScale Program: Up to 6 GW of SMRs, No PPA Yet

NuScale Power hosts a conference call on Nov. 5 at 5:00 p.m. ET to review third-quarter results, a week after its Oct. 29 factory contract with Doosan Enerbility, while the ENTRA1-TVA program for up to 6 GW of NuScale small modular reactors still has no power purchase agreement.

NuScale has called it the largest small modular reactor (SMR) deployment program in US history, and it is not yet a contract. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) announced it on Sept. 2, 2025 with ENTRA1 Energy, NuScale's exclusive commercialization partner. NuScale's latest quarterly filing calls it a non-binding agreement. On Aug. 5, NuScale said ENTRA1 was still in talks with TVA toward a definitive power purchase agreement (PPA). For data centers in TVA's seven-state region, that means no megawatt of this supply is yet committed, sited or licensed. The Doosan contract, which Voltgrid reported on Oct. 29, moves the hardware forward, but NuScale named no customer plant for it.

How the NuScale Power Module Works

The NuScale Power Module is a small pressurized-water reactor rated at 77 MWe, or 250 MWt gross, per module, according to the company. Plants can hold up to 12 modules, for up to 924 MWe. The idea that matters is the factory: modules are built in a shop and shipped, rather than assembled on site. That is why the Doosan contract counts. Doosan will make the first article of the module's upper reactor coolant system at its Changwon plant in Korea, NuScale said, after a partnership that began in 2019. A first article is the first unit built to production drawings, in plain terms; NuScale disclosed no value, quantity or delivery date.

ENTRA1-TVA Terms and the NuScale Milestone Payments

Three agreements matter here: the non-binding TVA-ENTRA1 agreement, the Partnership Milestones Agreement between NuScale and ENTRA1, and NuScale's contract with Doosan. The TVA-ENTRA1 agreement is non-binding. It aims for six ENTRA1 Energy Plants, each with several NuScale modules, delivering up to 6 GW in TVA's service region, according to NuScale's September 2025 release. ENTRA1 would own and finance the plants and sell the output to TVA under future PPAs, Power Engineering and POWER Magazine reported. The module count per plant and the financing have not been disclosed. TVA and ENTRA1 said the output could serve the equivalent of about 60 new data centers, a figure that is their own claim.

The second agreement is between NuScale and ENTRA1. Under a Partnership Milestones Agreement signed Aug. 27, 2025, NuScale pays ENTRA1 a contribution for each module placed in a planned project, in three tranches, its 10-Q shows: 15% when ENTRA1 signs a non-binding term sheet, MOU or framework, 35% on a binding PPA, and 50% on an equipment order for modules. The first tranche was triggered in 2025 by a non-binding agreement covering 72 modules, and NuScale recorded an expense of $507.4 million; the filing does not name the counterparty in that note. ENTRA1 also keeps full discretion over whether to buy from NuScale. The two companies hold a 50/50 joint venture, ENTRA1 NuScale LLC, Power Engineering reported. NuScale ended June with $1.9 billion in cash and investments.

NRC Licensing: What the Design Approval Covers

The NRC issued a standard design approval for the 77 MWe module in May 2025, the Department of Energy said; an earlier 50 MWe version holds an NRC design certification. NuScale calls itself the only SMR with a certified design, though that certification covers the 50 MWe design and the 77 MWe module holds a standard design approval. A design approval licenses no plant. Each TVA-ENTRA1 plant would still need a site and an NRC construction permit and operating licence, or a combined licence. No site and no application has been announced, and no target date for first power has been set.

TVA's own SMR shows the length of that road. The NRC approved TVA's construction permit for a 300 MW GE Vernova Hitachi boiling-water reactor at Clinch River, Tennessee, on Sept. 29, 2026, after a 14-month review, and TVA still needs a separate licence to operate it.

What the TVA SMR Program Means for Data Centers

For a data-center developer in TVA's seven-state region, this program is a possibility, not supply. TVA has a construction permit for one 300 MW SMR; the 6 GW program has an intent document and a supply chain getting ready. NuScale's last US project is the caution. The Carbon Free Power Project for Utah municipal utilities, planned near Idaho Falls, Idaho, with six 77 MW modules totalling 462 MW, was terminated in November 2023; POWER Magazine reported projected power prices had risen from $58 to $89/MWh. The milestone structure gives a clear signal to track: a binding PPA signed by ENTRA1 would trigger NuScale's 35% milestone tranche, so it should surface in the company's filings as well as in any TVA announcement.

What to Watch on NuScale's Nov. 5 Call

On Nov. 5, the call should show whether a definitive TVA PPA is signed or still in talks, whether ENTRA1 has named sites or financing, and what schedule NuScale gives for the Doosan first article. In Romania, NuScale is still working to meet conditions attached to Nuclearelectrica's shareholder vote on the six-module RoPower plant at Doicești. After any PPA, the next steps are a site choice and an NRC application; neither has a date.