Fluor Corporation has won a key pre-construction contract to support X-energy’s planned small modular reactor (SMR) project at Dow Chemical’s Seadrift facility in Texas, the companies said. Fluor will carry out Front-End Loading Stage 2 (FEL-2) engineering and planning — a decisive early phase in which engineers define scope, test technical feasibility and set cost and risk management frameworks that determine whether a project moves into full-scale development.
The work covers planning for four 80-megawatt reactors at the Seadrift site — a 320-megawatt combined capacity intended to supply carbon-free electricity and industrial steam to Dow while replacing aging on-site infrastructure. The initiative is being advanced with backing from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which uses cost-sharing partnerships to accelerate commercialization of advanced reactor designs. A construction permit application was submitted in March 2025 and is currently under review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a regulatory milestone that keeps the project on a path toward potential deployment while formal approvals remain outstanding.
FEL-2 work is a critical gateway: its outcomes will shape final capital estimates, procurement strategy and how construction risks are managed, and may position Fluor to compete for sizeable subsequent engineering and build contracts if the project proceeds. Fluor emphasized its multi-decade nuclear experience and existing federal relationships as assets for managing regulatory complexity and technical risk during the pre-construction stage.
The award arrives as Fluor reports rising backlog and a strategic pivot from restructuring to growth. The company said its backlog stood at $25.5 billion at the end of fourth-quarter 2025, with full-year new awards totaling $12 billion. Management highlighted that 81% of the backlog is reimbursable work — a contract profile that typically improves revenue visibility and margin stability — and said it expects a book-to-burn ratio above 1 in 2026, driven by strengthening customer demand later in the year.
Fluor’s Energy Solutions segment, which won the FEL-2 work, has been busy with other higher-margin engineering assignments, including a U.S. LNG front-end engineering design (FEED) contract and new utility gas-fired project work. Across the company, recent wins cited by management include a major life sciences project for Eli Lilly in the Urban Solutions business and a contract extension at the Portsmouth facility in the Mission Solutions segment.
Financial markets showed little immediate enthusiasm for the news: Fluor shares slipped about 0.3% in after-hours trading following the announcement. Industry observers note that while FEL-2 awards are important early prizes, the real economic upside for contractors comes with firm construction contracts that depend on regulatory approvals, final investment decisions by customers, and availability of financing.
The Seadrift award is another tangible step in broader industry efforts to deploy SMRs for industrial decarbonization. If the NRC review and subsequent project milestones progress as planned, the collaboration between X-energy, Dow and Fluor could become one of the larger U.S. demonstrations of SMR technology powering heavy industrial loads.