OpenAI founder Sam Altman-backed nuclear start-up Oklo has been in the news after signing a massive deal with data centre operator Switch in December 2024. The agreement will see Oklo build enough small modular reactors (SMRs) by 2044 to generate 12 gigawatts of electricity for Switch’s data centres. Oklo will build and operate the plants, selling power through Switch to its data centre customers.
However, the nuclear start-up still has not received approval from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) after its previous application was denied in 2022. Sam Altman serves as Oklo’s board chair and invested in the venture’s seed round in 2015 after it emerged from Y Combinator. In May 2024, Oklo completed a reverse merger with AltC, Sam Altman’s blank check company.
If Oklo secures the much-needed NRC approval, it will deliver dozens to hundreds of its SMR power plants. The first of these will produce 15 megawatts of electricity, with plans to scale up to 50-100 megawatts. In today’s episode of the “Start-up of the Week,” International Finance will explore the venture in detail.
All You Need To Know About Oklo
Oklo is developing next-generation fission powerhouses to produce abundant, affordable, and clean energy on a global scale, starting with the Aurora, which can produce 15 MW of electrical power, scalable to 50 MW, and can operate for 10 years or longer before needing refuelling. Oklo’s fast reactors incorporate inherent safety features and can be fuelled by recycled waste.
The start-up has three project sites. The site use permit for its first site was obtained from the US Department of Energy in 2019. The facility was then awarded fuel for its first reactor from Idaho National Laboratory and now has the most regulatory traction of any advanced fission power system to date, with the first deployment targeted for 2027.
Oklo made history with the first advanced reactor site use permit, gaining access to recycled fuel, and submitting the first-ever advanced reactor combined license application. The start-up’s world-class team comes from Fortune 500 and global companies, bringing together expertise from industries ranging from nuclear power to aerospace, automotive, and tech to deliver an advanced energy product. While it hopes to bring its first reactor online in 2027, it will still have to go through the lengthy NRC approval process.
Oklo’s previous application was denied nearly two years after it was first submitted. The start-up now plans to resubmit a new application in 2025, hoping that new legislation, which takes effect next year, will speed up the process. Even if the company secures the much-needed approval and meets its internal project completion deadlines, it will still face stiff competition from other nuclear start-ups, in addition to renewable power projects. Kairos, one of Oklo’s competitors, has already received NRC approval and currently has a deal with Google to supply its data centres with electricity.
However, Oklo’s toughest competition may come from renewable power and grid-scale batteries, both of which continue to drop in price. Google recently announced its involvement in helping to anchor a renewable power deal involving another nuclear start-up, Kairos Power. This deal will see USD 20 billion worth of solar, wind, and batteries.
Entering The Oklo Ecosystem
At the heart of the start-up’s operational ecosystem lies the Aurora Powerhouse, a result of collaboration between Oklo and Gensler architects. The venture designed an award-winning modular architecture aimed at simplifying and streamlining construction capabilities.
Through Aurora Powerhouse, Oklo produces scalable power plants ranging from 15 MW to 50 MW of electric power, with opportunities to tailor the plants to meet users’ needs. Oklo Powerhouses generate usable heat, enabling cogeneration applications.
Purchasing power from Oklo helps industries support corporate clean energy commitments, environmental and sustainability goals, and represents an investment in a cleaner future. Oklo uses the “Nuclear Fission” method (where a neutron strikes a larger atom, causing it to split into two smaller atoms), which has a low lifecycle carbon footprint. This reflects Oklo’s minimal resource requirements per kWh produced. Oklo goes one step further by utilising nuclear waste as fuel for its power plants.
The Aurora Powerhouse simplifies operations and maintenance, and occupies a small site footprint of a few acres. Operation and maintenance costs are minimised, and plants can be sited where customers need the power without requiring expensive and lengthy power line transmission. Oklo can provide heat and electricity directly to customers in both regulated and unregulated utility states.
Oklo began its design work on the Aurora Powerhouse a decade ago, focusing on not only the design but also on how it would be constructed and operated. This lifecycle focus is embedded within Oklo’s DNA. Key focus areas include modern design, non-pressurised operations, offsite fabrication, and manufacturing. Last but not least, the liquid-metal-cooled reactor enables Oklo to achieve cost competitiveness with all energy sources.
Simplified design with far fewer systems and parts than conventional designs, affordable and simpler components, fast installation and streamlined deployment, and the liquid-metal-cooled reactor working perfectly with modern supply chains are the defining elements that make Aurora Powerhouse a cost-effective option for facilities like data centres, factories, and industrial sites.
Key Technology
Oklo uses a fast reactor design, ensuring robust inherent safety performance. The reactor is self-stabilising, self-controlling, and cooled by natural forces, making the plant “walk-away safe,” with the technology proven at scale.
“Liquid-metal-cooled, metal-fuelled fast reactors have the most demonstration history of any advanced fission technologies, with over 400 reactor-years of operating experience worldwide. In fact, the very first power plant to produce useful electrical power from fission was a liquid-metal-cooled, metal-fuelled fast reactor—the Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I). Its successor, the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), operated for decades and demonstrated that it could safely remain operational even under severe conditions like those that led to the Fukushima accident. The tests conducted with EBR-II showed that the coolant could be shut off and all shutdown systems removed, yet the reactor would naturally stabilise and shut itself down without damage,” the company stated.
Only fast reactors can use waste as fuel, a capability already demonstrated with EBR-II. Oklo is currently collaborating with the Idaho National Laboratory to take the waste fuel from EBR-II and use it for its first Aurora Powerhouse.
EBR-II was a fast reactor that produced about 20 MW of electric power and operated for 30 years. The technology and its on-site facilities recycled its used fuel, demonstrated inherent safety, achieved superior operating and maintenance characteristics compared to commercial light water reactors, and sold power to the grid.
Oklo’s reactors can convert used nuclear fuel into clean energy. Today’s reactors use about 5% of the energy content contained in their fuel, meaning nearly 95% of the energy content remains unused.
At their peak, Oklo’s reactors could power the entire United States for over 150 years by converting waste (used fuel) into clean energy. The venture’s goal is clear: to provide cost-competitive fuel to advanced reactors for clean energy production.
Oklo’s Plans In The Radioisotope Sector
Oklo recently signed a letter of intent to acquire Atomic Alchemy, a US-based company specialising in the production of radioisotopes. This proposed acquisition builds on the strategic partnership announced between Oklo and Atomic Alchemy earlier in 2024. The goal is to combine Oklo’s power generation and fuel recycling capabilities with Atomic Alchemy’s radioisotope production expertise to accelerate fuel production for Oklo’s powerhouses and create new revenue streams from radioisotopes.
Radioisotopes are essential for applications in healthcare, energy, industry, and technology. According to Research Nester, they will present a USD 55.7 billion market opportunity by 2026, with demand expected to increase significantly over the next decade.
According to the British Institute of Radiology, the supply of radioisotopes has struggled to keep pace with rising demand due to ageing reactor infrastructure and a fragmented global supply chain, which is currently dominated by Russia. Oklo aims to address this gap by establishing reliable, US-based radioisotope production facilities that leverage its core clean energy and fuel recycling technologies.