FAQs

Oklo will deploy its first commercial advanced reactor in the United States before the end of the decade. Oklo has a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy to build its first plant in Idaho, has fuel for its first reactor, and has been engaged with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission since 2016, preparing to license its first plant. Oklo is a leading advanced reactor company with a site, fuel, and major regulatory progress to date.

• Economic: The energy density of fission affords Oklo sizeable economic advantages over alternatives.
• Reliable: Oklo’s reactors are simple systems with long fuel lifetimes, enabling the reliable production of clean heat and electricity consistently throughout that time.

Oklo's Powerhouses offer several benefits over current power generation technologies.

• Clean: Oklo's Powerhouses are clean and do not emit greenhouse gases eliminating impacts on air pollution and climate change.

• Increased energy resilience and independence: Compared to fossil fuel sources like coal and natural gas, Oklo's fuel is millions of times more energy dense, resulting in millions of times less land impacted by mining and increased reliability of fuel resources. Oklo's reactors can operate for decades without refueling, compared to gas and coal plants that require frequent refueling and rarely have more than a few weeks worth of fuel onsite.

• Economic: The energy density of fuel affords Oklo sizeable economic advantages over fossil alternatives.

• Reliable: Oklo’s reactors need refueling as little as every 20 years and produce reliable, clean heat and electricity consistently throughout that time.

Oklo's primary sales model is to sell power via power purchase agreements, as opposed to selling power plants outright. Oklo can sell power plants but has found that people largely prefer PPA models. This means Oklo designs, deploys, and operates its power plants, selling the power from its plants to customers by the megawatt-hour. If you are interested in exploring how Oklo can power your needs, reach out to: bizdev@oklo.com

Oklo power plants are fast reactors, which have over 400 years of operating experience. Oklo has pursued fast reactors due to their robust operating experience, inherent safety characteristics, favorable operating characteristics, promising economics, and ability to convert nuclear waste into clean electricity.

Fast reactors have operated in the United States, notably EBR-II, which produced about 20 MW of electric power and operated from 1964 to 1995. EBR-II demonstrated the inherent safety characteristics of fast reactors in real-world, full-scale tests. On the morning of April 3, 1986, the reactor was taken to full power, the control rods were locked out of the reactor so they could not be inserted, and the pumps were turned off. At that point, the coolant flow slowed down until it was driven by natural circulation. This caused an imbalance in heat generation and cooling, causing the reactor to heat up. The fuel expanded as it increased in temperature, shutting the reactor down. Natural circulation then removed the heat from the fuel, ultimately transferring it to naturally flowing ambient air. This event was managed seamlessly by the reactor. That same afternoon, they started the reactor back up to full power, a feat that slow neutron reactors could not easily accomplish due to latent fission product poisoning, and again locked the control rods out of the core. The reactor's balance of plant was then shut down, shutting off the normal pathway for heat flow in the system. This caused the reactor to heat up, leading to the fuel expanding, terminating the reaction, and the natural circulation of the coolant was able to cool the reactor. Again, the inherent safety features of the reactor were demonstrated.

All energy technologies generate waste. Unlike fossil fuels, fission does not produce major air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of waste generated by an energy source is based on the amount of materials needed to generate energy. Fission requires the least materials per MWh it produces. That means fissions’ total waste footprint is smaller than any other source of power. This includes nuclear waste, often called used fuel, which is highly radioactive and attracts the majority of attention. Because fission fuels are incredibly energy dense, the waste footprint is small- all the waste generated over the last 60+ years of operation from today's reactors would fit in a volume the size of a Walmart store. The used fuel is hard to describe as waste since it contains about 95% of its original energy content. Fast reactors, like Oklo's reactors, are able to tap into and harness that remaining energy cost-effectively. In fact, there is enough energy content in the used fuel in the U.S. today to power the entire country for over 150 years. Oklo can also recycle its own discharged fuel. This not only taps into tremendous energy reserves but also changes the nature of the material. Recycling means you fission the actinides, which have half-lives in the tens to hundreds of thousands of years. The remaining waste materials return to the normal background radiation levels of the natural deposits it was produced from after 300-700 years. That means you reduce waste volumes, heat loads, and lifetimes. The reduced waste burden allows packaging the fission products into optimal disposal packages, which saves costs and opens up entirely different disposal pathways.

The two-billion-year-old natural nuclear reactor inspired Oklo's name. The Oklo logo mark, in particular, has many layers of meaning. The shape, the number of stripes, the ties to ancient symbolism, the circular shape, and more all have meaning.

Yes, our Idaho plant is a commercial power plant that will produce power commercially.

Oklo power plants are stationary systems, not designed to be transportable. This allows us to achieve cost competitive economics while avoiding major regulatory, technical, and logistical challenges.

In 2020, Oklo submitted the first ever advanced fission license application to build and operate its first plant. In 2022, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requested additional information to resume the application.  Oklo is working with the NRC to prepare for upcoming application submissions, and is on track to bring its first plant online before the end of the decade.

Oklo's regulatory interactions are captured on the NRC website here.

We are actively working with several international partners and are excited about the potential our systems have in producing affordable, reliable clean power around the world. Please reach out to us to explore more opportunities.