Holtec, a U.S. nuclear power giant, applies for IPO; its valuation may exceed ten billion dollars.

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Recently, nuclear energy giant Holtec International has secretly submitted an IPO application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Having been deeply involved in the nuclear energy sector for over 40 years, Holtec will become the first mature company to go public during the nuclear energy revival wave, whereas only startup nuclear companies have appeared in the public markets before.

According to Barron's report last June, Holtec may be valued at over $10 billion, with annual revenues exceeding $500 million. The company is advancing the first-ever reactor restart project in U.S. history at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan, a pioneering initiative that has already inspired multiple reactor restart plans across the country.

Steffan Szumowski, author of The Nuclear Review, stated in the latest article that Holtec’s business goes far beyond reactor restarts. The company holds a leading position in various fields, such as nuclear plant decommissioning, small modular reactor (SMR) development, used fuel management, and heat exchanger manufacturing. Among these, it has the highest global market share in used fuel transport and storage. This diversified layout ensures its business stability is not reliant on the success or failure of the nuclear energy revival.

The sustainability of its business derives from the long-term demand of more than 400 operating reactors worldwide. These facilities will continue to require maintenance, upgrades, and refurbishment services over the coming decades, especially used fuel transport, processing, and storage services, which are expected to be needed for at least a century.

Reactor Restart and Decommissioning Businesses Run in Parallel

Holtec acquired the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant from Entergy in June 2022 and announced the restart plan in September of the same year. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy pledged a $1.5 billion loan to support this project, with multiple loans disbursed in 2025. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission established new regulatory pathways to reissue the operating license for this.

Due to issues with key equipment such as the steam generator, the project’s completion has been postponed from the end of 2025 to mid-2026. After the restart, Holtec will independently operate the plant through its subsidiary Holtec Palisades, with no plans to sell it to utility companies.

In its decommissioning business, the subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International is currently responsible for three projects: Oyster Creek Plant in New Jersey, Pilgrim Plant in Massachusetts, and Indian Point Energy Center in New York State. Although Holtec last year listed Indian Point as a potential restart candidate, New York Governor Hochul has explicitly opposed it, instead supporting the construction of new nuclear projects in northern New York State to achieve an additional 5GW nuclear capacity target.

Small Reactor Technology Expands into Overseas Markets

Holtec, through its wholly-owned subsidiary SMR LLC, has been developing small modular reactors for over a decade. Its design has evolved from the original SMR-160 to the SMR-300 launched in 2023, with a power output of 320 megawatts. This reactor uses a pressurized water design and commercial, low-enriched uranium fuel.

SMR LLC is applying to build the first two SMR-300 units at the Palisades plant, named Pioneer Units 1 and 2. The company has submitted a construction application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is seeking a limited work authorization to begin certain non-nuclear systems ahead of time. The project has received $400 million in funding from the Department of Energy.

In early 2025, Holtec obtained U.S. government approval to export the SMR-300 design to India. The CEO has repeatedly stated that India is one of the largest potential nuclear power markets outside China and will become an important growth opportunity.

Used Fuel Management Encounters Policy Resistance

Holtec uses its HI-STORM and HI-STAR dry storage systems to hold the highest global market share in used fuel transport and storage, but this business still faces political resistance.

New Mexico legislators and officials, supported by the oil and gas industry, are fully blocking Holtec from establishing the HI-STORE consolidated interim storage facility. This facility was intended to consolidate some temporary dry storage sites across the country. Although Holtec won a Supreme Court lawsuit, the company ultimately canceled the entire project in 2025 due to years of ongoing legal battles.

In addition to nuclear energy, Holtec is involved in solar, geothermal, and fossil fuel fields. Its Green Boiler products are designed to replace gradually phased out coal power plants, using engineered salt to store energy from solar or SMR-300, enabling on-demand dispatch.

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