Oklo’s Aurora reactor concept. (Image: Oklo)
Oklo announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Standard Nuclear to explore commercial collaboration on nuclear fuel recycling and advanced fuel manufacturing. According to Oklo, the collaboration with TRISO fuel fabricator Standard Nuclear represents the company’s first third-party offtake pathway for recycled nuclear materials, including surplus U.S. plutonium.
Both Oklo and Standard Nuclear recently announced that they were selected by the Department of Energy for advanced negotiations under the department’s Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, which aims to make surplus U.S. plutonium available to the nuclear industry for advanced reactor fuels.
Details: According to the companies, the MOU establishes a framework for Oklo and Standard Nuclear to explore the following:
Recycled nuclear material offtake. The companies said they intend to jointly evaluate product specifications, potential commercial terms, and delivery schedules for recycled materials from Oklo’s planned fuel recycling facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The collaboration would focus on the supply of reprocessed uranium and uranium-transuranic material streams from spent nuclear fuel, which could serve as feedstock for TRISO fuel manufacturing.
Surplus plutonium fuel collaboration. Oklo and Standard Nuclear intend to explore the use of U.S. surplus plutonium for advanced reactor fuel following selection for DOE Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program negotiations. The companies will evaluate opportunities to collaborate on facilities, licensing, packaging, and transportation to support the conversion of surplus plutonium into advanced reactor fuel.
The Pu program: In addition to Oklo and Standard Nuclear, nuclear technology companies Shine Technologies and Flibe Energy also announced that they have been selected by the DOE for Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program negotiations. A fifth company, Exodys Energy, also has been reported to have been selected for the program, but it has yet to make an announcement.
Under the surplus plutonium program, the selected companies could collectively receive almost 20 metric tons of DOE-owned plutonium materials (4.4 MT metal and 15.3 MT oxides) for “recycling, processing, and manufacturing” into high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel.
The program recently has been criticized as a “free ride” for the DOE to dispose of its excess plutonium derived from nuclear weapons. Reuters also reported on June 15 that the program “would likely face sky-high security costs.”
Quotes: “Oklo’s fuel strategy is built around turning used nuclear fuel and surplus nuclear materials into usable fuel for reactors and power plants,” said Oklo cofounder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “The collaboration with Standard Nuclear helps support the domestic supply chains needed to deploy advanced nuclear at scale.”
“Standard Nuclear is committed to developing a secure, domestic supply chain for advanced nuclear fuel,” said Kurt Terrani, CEO of Standard Nuclear. “This partnership represents a compelling pathway to source feedstock materials for our TRISO fuel manufacturing and radioisotope power systems and is an important step in strengthening domestic fuel feedstock supply sources.”
