X-energy buys its first Xe-100 steel before the permit exists: the cash test lands November 12
The first Xe-100 steam-generator tubing order landed November 4, four days after the NRC closed the safety review and eight days before a Q3 report that must show the cash to pay for long-lead steel.
Vincent Jiang · 2 min read
The first order buys steel before a permit exists
X-energy$1B — X-energy, private, latest valuation $1B, the Amazon+6.11% — Amazon, up 6.11 percent today-backed developer of the Xe-100 small modular reactor, executed the program's first purchase order for steam generator tubing on November 4, 2026 1. Alleima, the Swedish specialty-steel maker with about 19 billion SEK of 2025 revenue, makes the tube 12. Doosan Enerbility, the Korean manufacturer that has delivered 34 reactor vessels and 124 steam generators worldwide, bends it into helical coils that carry steam up to 565°C 12.
Those coils are a safety-significant, long-lead component for the first deployment: a four-unit, 800 MWt / 320 MWe plant that Long Mott Energy, a Dow subsidiary, wants to build at Seadrift, Texas under the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program 13. The order follows a December 2025 agreement reserving Doosan capacity for 16 sets of Xe-100 pressure vessels and internal components 1. Money is now committed to steel before a construction permit exists.
The permit clock is running
The order lands four days after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released its Final Safety Evaluation Report for the Seadrift plant on October 30, with the environmental review finished in May and both primary reviews complete 3. The NRC says a construction-permit announcement is "soon" 3.
The sellers did not buy the story
None of this stopped the slide. XE fell 23% in a month, Oklo−5.70% — Oklo, down 5.70 percent today 35% and NuScale 31%, against a 9% drop in the Nasdaq 100 4. The stock traded near $10.77 on November 4 67. Jim Cramer's verdict on Mad Money: "it's losing too much money" 4.
The SMR stocks fell three times harder than the Nasdaq 100
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Oklo | 35 |
| NuScale | 31 |
| X-energy (XE) | 23 |
| Nasdaq 100 | 9 |
Analyst targets run up to five times the current share price
Wedbush's $17 is the low bar on the Street, yet 58% above the traded price
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Guggenheim | $57 |
| Morgan Stanley | $34 |
| Consensus mean | $31 |
| UBS | $18 |
| Wedbush (new) | $17 |
| XE price, Nov 4 | $10.77 |
Wedbush split the field on November 3: Outperform on X-energy with a $17 target, Underperform on NuScale at $5, alongside Outperform calls on Oklo and NANO Nuclear 45. The consensus target has slid from $48 at the May coverage start to $31 4.
The cash test is the real deadline
Analysts still model revenue stepping from $210 million this year to $860 million in 2027 4. Wedbush's own $17 works out to just under 9x forward sales, below the stock's 13x post-IPO average 4. A Seeking Alpha analysis in October counted a $1.9 billion cash position 8. That cash must now fund the burn and the steel.
Watch two dates: the construction-permit announcement the NRC has promised 3, and November 12, when X-energy reports third-quarter results 7. The permit decides whether the schedule holds. The cash report decides who pays for the wait.
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