Sam Altman-backed nuclear startup Oklo to begin site work for Idaho microreactor

Nuclear Startup Oklo In an interview with CNBC, CEO Jacob DeWitt explained that the company is getting close to initial construction of its first commercial microreactor.

The Oklo company announced Wednesday that it has received the green light from the Energy Department to conduct a site investigation for a planned reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls.

Site investigation will focus on infrastructure planning, environmental surveys and geotechnical assessments.

DeWitt said, “This sets the stage for all the initial site … preparation work and what I would call initial construction activities.” He expects Oklo to begin work on the Idaho site in 2026, and plans to have the reactor operational by next year.

However, Oklo still needs approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate the plant, after its first application was denied in 2022. The CEO acknowledged that the 2027 start date is at risk of being pushed back depending on how long the NRC review takes.

Oklo, which aims to generate, operate and directly sell electricity to customers under long-term contracts, went public in May through a merger with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s SPAC, AltC Acquisition Corp. Altman serves as Oklo’s chairman.

Demand for electricity is forecast to surge. The tech sector is rapidly building data centers to handle the power-intensive computations needed for artificial intelligence, while domestic manufacturing is expanding and the economy is rapidly electrifying.

The company's microreactors, called Aurora, promise smaller, simpler designs that would range in size from 15 megawatts to 100 megawatts or more. The average nuclear reactor in the current U.S. fleet is about 1,000 megawatts, according to the Department of Energy.

Oko's stock has gained about 26% since then Star energy A plan to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant to help generate electricity was unveiled Friday. Microsoft's Data Centers. Its shares have fallen 54% since its debut on the NYSE.

DeWitt said the Three Mile Island restart is “proof” of how much growth the technology sector is “seeing in energy and how important it is to ensure a secure supply of it.”

“We're seeing hyperscalers trying to get as much capacity out of existing plants as possible, which makes sense, because some of that may be near-term power supplies,” DeWitt said.

But DeWitt said the nuclear “industry has fallen completely short of its ability to keep up with market interest.” ,“The challenge is that the industry offering has been very poor in terms of product, business model and capability to execute,” he said.

“These are all elements that need to be addressed in order to change the paradigm,” he said. “And that's where we really took a different approach.”

However, Oklo has faced its own challenges. The NRC rejected Oklo's first license application for lack of safety information. DeWitt said the company plans to file its application again in 2025. He said it is currently in the pre-application review process.

DeWitt cited disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for Oklo's first application being rejected, which prevented in-person audits from taking place. Oklo submitted its application on March 11, 2020, the day the World Health Organization declared a pandemic.

“Everything changed,” DeWitt said of the pandemic’s impact on the review process. “That missing information was largely lost because of communication challenges,” he said.

The CEO acknowledged that the NRC review could delay the Idaho microreactor's 2027 start-up date: “There's definitely a risk to that. Ultimately, we can't control the timeline of the NRC review,” he said.

Oklo could get help from the recently passed ADVANCE Act, which directs the NRC to expedite decisions on license applications to build and operate reactors.

DeWitt said Oklo's business is not dependent on when the Idaho plant becomes operational. The company has 1,350 megawatts of interest through letters of intent with potential customers, up 93% from the 700 megawatts it had in July 2023, according to the company's most recent earnings presentation.

The CEO said Oklo aims to bring plants online “in multiples per year” from 2028 to 2029. “From there, it’s really a game of scaling the supply chain accordingly,” he added.

Oklo's micro reactors are suitable for data centers built in individual halls with power requirements of less than 50 megawatts, which is comparable in size to the company's plants, he said.

“They build them in modules that are very similar to the modules we use, it's completely purposeful, so we can build with them,” DeWitt said.

Nuclear fuel has been a major hurdle for Oklo, DeWitt said. In May, the U.S. banned uranium imports from Russia, which accounted for about 35% of U.S. nuclear fuel imports. The Biden administration is investing $2.7 billion to boost domestic production.

Oklo has a partnership Centrus EnergyCentrus, a U.S.-based nuclear fuel supplier, began enrichment work in Piketon, Ohio, last October, but the domestic supply chain is not producing at the scale needed today, DeWitt said. Oklo, however, has secured the fuel needed for the Idaho plant.

DeWitt said the company's reactors will have the ability to recycle the fuel, helping it diversify its supply chain. But he added that recycled fuel probably won't be available in meaningful quantities until 2029 or later.

Oklo reported a net loss of $53 million for the six months ended June 30. The company has not yet earned any revenue. That will come when it produces power at its first plant.

“Once we start revenue operations, you're typically tied into 20-year — and in some cases, potentially longer — power purchase agreements,” the CEO said. “You'll continue to get revenue for the next 20 years and then it will grow from there.”