Sam Altman-Backed Nuclear Startup Oklo On Pace To Launch First Reactor By 2027

Sam Altman-backed nuclear company Oklo is “push[ing] towards its target of building its first small modular reactor by 2027 at the Idaho National Laboratory,” according to a new report from Reuters. 

The company – which we have highlighted as the potential solution to the extreme forthcoming demands in energy as a result of artificial intelligence – makes nuclear power plants, ranging from 15 MWe to 50 MWe, utilizing liquid metal reactor technology.

And while licensing and fuel supply are still bottlenecks, according to the report, the company has “been selected by the Department of Energy for four cost-share awards to potentially commercialize advanced recycling technologies” and has “secured a site use permit from the DOE and a fuel award from INL,” Reuters reports.

Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte commented: “We’ve tried to design and approach this whole thing in a way that we can get it built as soon as reasonably possible.”

DeWitte added: “We’re excited about the diversity of customers, because it shows that our size and business model clearly match with what customers are interested in.”

“They’re not starting overnight with a facility that’s using that much power, but they typically build into that, and they want to have that n+1 or n+2 dynamic build up with them,” he added.

“You can’t really do that if you’re building a 300 MW reactor, but you can do that with what we’re doing and that adds a lot of value.”

Oklo’s ‘Aurora powerhouse’ reactor will cost around $70 million for the 15 MW version, with an LCOE of $80-$130/MWh, similar to peaking gas-fired plants and offshore wind, per Lazard analysis.

The Reuters report notes that Oklo has signed an agreement with the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative for its second and third commercial plants at the DOE Piketon Site and has interest in building over 50 reactors with a total capacity exceeding 700 MWe.

In May, Oklo partnered with Atomic Alchemy to produce medical isotopes from its recycling process for cancer treatment and diagnostic imaging. It also signed an LOI with Wyoming Hyperscale for a 20-year PPA to supply 100 MW to its data center campus.

In April, Oklo signed an LOI for a 20-year PPA with Diamondback Energy to power its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin.

Oklo is preparing a pre-application readiness assessment for its reactor with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In 2022, the NRC denied Oklo’s application for a combined construction and operation license (COLA), the first for an advanced non-light water reactor. DeWitte notes this pre-assessment is a “dress rehearsal” for their application, expressing optimism despite previous delays caused by the pandemic.

The federal ADVANCE Act, passed in June, aims to speed up licensing, mobilize the fuel supply chain, and benefit Oklo by reducing fees, shortening timelines, and offering incentives.

We noted about a month ago that the company had signed a deal to power data center Wyoming Hyperscale. 

As we wrote back in May, Oklo won shareholder approval on May 8 for its NYSE listing. The company’s mission is “to provide clean, reliable, affordable energy on a global scale through the design and deployment of next-generation fast reactor technology”.

Backed by investors like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Peter Thiel, the who’s who of the AI revolution, nuclear fusion startups are gaining traction. Sam Altman, who invested in Oklo in 2015, believes the company is “best positioned to commercialize advanced fission energy solutions,” per a July press release.

For those who missed it, in “The Next AI Trade,” we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, most of which have dramatically outperformed the market. In the next iteration, we will likely add Oklo to the list of beneficiaries certainly ahead of the inevitable cascade of Buy ratings sure flood the name over the next month.