Oklo is Now Authorized to Start Up Its Advanced Test Reactor

Advanced nuclear company Oklo officially has the green light to start up its new test reactor. The company announced that its Groves Isotope Test Reactor received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This approval means Oklo is cleared to load fuel, run tests, and actually start operating.

Oklo is using the low-power test reactor to practice designing, building, and running a nuclear facility. Eventually, this will help set up facilities to produce special isotopes in the U.S. These materials are important for things like cancer care, space exploration, scientific research, manufacturing, and national security.

Privately Sourced Fuel and Components

Oklo’s Grove Test Reactor was built on private land and paid for privately. The company handled the full construction and sourced the fuel and components on their own.

“By building on a greenfield site on private land, performing full-scale civil excavation and construction, and procuring fuel and all major components commercially, we demonstrated that the advanced nuclear industry can move at a pace that many did not believe possible,” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “And this experience is fully translatable to future commercial deployments.”

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Mike Goff added, “The U.S. Department of Energy is excited to see another Reactor Pilot Program participant receive authorization. With the right enabling environment, Oklo has been able to accelerate their progress and is now ready to take the next step with their technology.”

Building for the Future

Before giving this approval, a DOE team checked Oklo’s engineering, training, and equipment to make sure it was safe to receive fuel. But instead of relying on the safety systems of an already established national lab, Oklo built its own safety management programs completely in-house.

“Executing on Groves has meant much more than just a construction project; it has been a valuable part of building and exercising key operational muscle across the Oklo enterprise,” Oklo co-founder and COO Caroline DeWitte explained. “Startup of a private facility means honing and implementing operating procedures, training programs, security programs, environment, health and safety programs, quality assurance programs and procedures, and much more.”

Oklo plans to use this exact same blueprint for its future projects to lower risks and speed up construction down the line.

DeWitte added, “Oklo’s centers of excellence on all of these operational aspects now have this experience to bring to all our projects currently in progress and to build on for the future.”