You probably already know that nuclear power has been proposed as a quick, environmentally friendly solution to the world’s energy shortage stemming from the rise of power-hungry AI data centers. You may also know NuScale Power (SMR -0.20%) is one of the few outfits that are nearly ready to deliver a solution sooner than later.

What’s not quite clear yet, however, is whether or not nuclear power is actually going to materialize as the preferred answer to the planet’s energy shortfall, and if it does, whether or not NuScale is going to help make it happen.

Should things pan out as some are hoping they will, though, a handful of investors may well end up becoming millionaires.

Nuclear power gets a second chance

Despite its checkered past, nuclear power is making a comeback. The World Nuclear Association reports that over the course of the past 20 years, more new nuclear power plants have been made active than have been decommissioned. Indeed, one of the shuttered reactors at Pennsylvania’s infamous Three Mile Island is expected to begin producing electricity again in 2028, mostly to deliver power to an artificial data center being operated by Microsoft.

In this vein, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes the planet could be using up to two and a half times as much nuclear power by 2050 as it’s consuming now.

Image source: Getty Images.

The technology is changing, though. Not only is it becoming safer, it’s becoming more cost-effective by becoming . Small modular reactors — or SMRs — that can be installed and operated precisely where their power is needed are increasingly more marketable. Desalination plants, steel smelting facilities, and the production of hydrogen for fuel cells are just some of the reasons on-site nuclear power makes sense.

To this end, the IAEA believes small modular reactors could account for around one-fourth of the nuclear power production capacity put in place over the course of the coming 25 years. Separately but simultaneously, market research outfit Straits Research predicts the SMR market will grow at an average annual pace of just over 9% between now and 2032, even before the technology is fully refined and before many would-be customers are fully ready to try the less-proven idea. After that, IDTechEx expects the worldwide SMR market’s growth to accelerate to an annualized pace of 30% through 2043 when the technology should be far more proven.

At best, NuScale’s a mixed bag right now

Enter NuScale Power.

The company’s not profitable, for the record. In fact, there’s little revenue to speak of. The crux of the bullish argument for owning a piece of NuScale now is only the amount of business it may be doing in the distant future.

Its prospects are quite promising, though, for a couple of reasons. One of those reasons is the simple fact that this company’s small modular reactor design is the only one currently approved by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

This doesn’t mean competitors aren’t also vying for approval of their comparable equipment; some of them will almost certainly get it, too. NuScale Power also has some buyers on board while others are almost certainly watching. Romania’s Nuclearelectrica and RoPower Nuclear, for instance, are moving forward with plans that will ultimately lead to the purchase of six NuScale modules. At a price of a few billion dollars each versus the company’s $2 billion market cap, there’s reason for interested investors to be excited.

On the flip side, there’s just as much reason to be concerned.

To date, NuScale Power hasn’t actually sold any functioning SMRs. The one it wants to commercialize — the newer design capable of cranking out 77 megawatts worth of power — isn’t slated for approval by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission until the middle of the coming year, either. Even then, constructing just one small modular reactor is a multiyear project.

The company has also stumbled. Mostly due to cost overruns, late last year, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems ended a decade-long (and high-profile) effort to develop a nuclear power facility around NuScale’s tech. The embarrassing development calls the very premise and viability of small modular reactors into question.

Too much risk for most investors

There’s the rub, of course.

As artificial intelligence data centers have proven just how power-hungry they are, small modular reactors have eased their way back onto the table of proposed solutions. If small-scale, on-site nuclear power plants pan out, the demand could prove explosive for NuScale, potentially turning a relatively small investment in the stock today into a seven-figure stash in the distant future. But that’s an enormous “if.” Much could happen to derail NuScale in the meantime.

More to the point for interested investors, although it’s conceivable that a $10,000 investment in NuScale Power today could eventually make you a millionaire, the odds of that happening aren’t nearly strong enough to take such a risk. An investment in this stock is very much an all-or-nothing kind of trade, with as much potential to turn into a wipeout as a windfall.

So, tread lightly if you dare tread at all, keeping it on a short leash and keeping a close eye on it for as long as you own it.

For what it’s worth, there are certainly higher-odds, lower-risk, millionaire-making prospects out there that don’t require nearly as much constant monitoring.