With the signing of several executive orders in May, President Donald Trump ushered in the dawn of a nuclear energy renaissance in many investors' eyes. From the developers of small modular reactors (SMRs) to uranium-producing companies, investors have bid various nuclear energy stocks considerably higher in 2025.

But of the SMR developers, NuScale Power (SMR -5.02%) is in a league of its own as the only company with a design approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Impressive as this is, I'm laser focused on NuScale Power this year for another reason altogether.

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A flood of interest has me transfixed on NuScale Power's progress

Sure, the fact that NuScale Power has two approved SMR designs is reason enough to have the company on the radar. The other critical factor, however, is whether the company is receiving interest from prospective customers. Approved designs mean little if no one's interested in partnering with the company.

Management's commentary on the second-quarter 2025 conference call that addresses this point, though, has me intrigued.

On the call, John Hopkins, the company's president and CEO, spoke to the growing interest the company has received.

As it relates to customers, we're getting inundated now. We're focused, as I said, with our resources working with our developer partner ENTRA1 on 2 or 3 major customers that -- and we're still forecasting having what I call hard contracts in place by the end of this year 2025. And those are all U.S.-based customers.

There's no denying the gap between potential customers showing interest and the inkings of actual contracts, but this tantalizing commentary has me eagerly awaiting further news from the company in the remaining months of 2025.

What's a nuclear energy investor to do now?

Management's commentary is intriguing, but it hardly means investors should rush out to buy shares. Potential investors should look for green flags such as securing new customers, but they must also be cognizant of the risks and act accordingly. In the meantime, those looking to mitigate risk may be more interested in a nuclear energy exchange-traded fund (ETF).