Fluor selected for Washington nuclear project as shares close at $44.98
Key Facts
On November 5, 2026, X-energy announced that it had selected Fluor to provide design and engineering services for the proposed Cascade Advanced Energy Facility near Richland, Washington. The selection expands the companies’ collaboration to a second nuclear project, but does not establish that X-energy shares rose; Fluor shares closed the same session at $44.98, down 5.52% from the previous day. Fluor said the contract value was undisclosed and that it would record it in the third quarter of 2026. The announcement places Fluor on a new advanced small-reactor development project, while the proposed facility remains in development. The expected first phase comprises 4 reactors with total capacity of about 320 megawatts.
Fluor’s scope includes engineering, design development, supply-chain management, estimating and project controls for the nuclear island, the part that houses the reactors and their supporting systems. X-energy describes the step as the companies’ second commercial contract for nuclear-island engineering and design services. Fluor previously worked on the proposed Xe-100 project in Texas under the U.S. Department of Energy’s program to demonstrate advanced reactors. Under the Texas agreement, announced on April 6, 2026, Fluor’s scope began with Phase 2 front-end loading services and included project definition, strategic planning, feasibility assessment, and cost and risk controls. The Washington scope extends the collaboration to another project, with the current contract value still undisclosed.
Fluor expects the Washington facility to include 4 Xe-100 reactors, with generating capacity of about 320 megawatts, and the potential to expand to 12 units with total capacity of 960 megawatts. Those figures relate to the proposed facility’s design and potential expansion, not existing operating capacity. X-energy says each reactor of this type produces 80 megawatts electric, uses high-temperature gas cooling and TRISO-X fuel. The company also describes its standard plants as arranging reactors in groups of 4 or 12 units. The design means the project’s total capacity depends on the number of units that may ultimately be built.
X-energy says the Washington project is its first under its collaboration with Amazon, which aims to deploy 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power by 2039. That target provides a broader framework for the project, but does not by itself set a timetable for building or operating the Cascade facility. In the Texas project, the Department of Energy program identifies a 4-unit plant with net capacity of 320 megawatts and points to the reactor’s ability to provide heat for industrial processes as well as electricity. In 2025, the department said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had accepted Dow’s application for a construction permit for X-energy’s first small-reactor plant in Seadrift. The department then quoted Dow as saying construction could begin within 5 years, a separate earlier pathway from the Washington project.
X-energy said the repeat work with Fluor is intended to transfer lessons between the two projects and reduce costs and schedules over the long term through standardized design and repeatable execution. The companies have not disclosed the value of the Washington contract, making the announcement a selection of an engineering-services provider rather than disclosure of a specific amount of revenue. In its announcement of the Texas contract, Fluor had said the value of the initial portion was undisclosed and that it would record it in the first quarter of 2026. The company also said the construction-permit application for the Texas project was filed in March 2025 and was under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when the announcement was published. The record of the two projects shows that engineering and design work precedes licensing and construction, without the Washington announcement specifying a schedule for those stages.
Fluor shares closed at $44.98 on November 5, compared with $47.61 on November 4, leaving the close on the day of the selection announcement below the previous day’s close. Fluor reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $4.3 billion, up 9% year over year, and net earnings attributable to the company of $114 million. New awards announced by the company in the quarter totaled $6.1 billion, compared with $1.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, with 89% reimbursable. In August, Fluor lowered its 2026 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization guidance to a range of $500–525 million from $525–560 million, citing the removal of the estimated second-half contribution from its joint venture in Mexico. In separate U.S. economic data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm business productivity rose 3.6% at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2026, while unit labor costs fell 0.7%; those economic figures do not explain Fluor’s selection announcement or its share-price move.
The next step for the Texas project is the permitting process referenced by the Department of Energy, following acceptance of the construction application in 2025; the Washington announcement gave no comparable construction or operating date. The Department of Energy program aims to support advanced reactors through cost-sharing partnerships and to address licensing, construction and operating risks for first-of-a-kind technologies. For Fluor, its selection for the project adds new engineering work to its relationship with X-energy, but recording the contract value in the third quarter does not reveal its amount. The 320-megawatt capacity is tied to the expected first phase, while reaching 960 megawatts depends on carrying out the potential expansion to 12 units. The companies did not announce a project completion schedule in the selection statement.