It has been about three months since the Department of Energy named 10 companies for its new Reactor Pilot Program, which maps out how the DOE would meet the goal announced by executive order in May of having three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.

Hawthorne, Calif.–based reactor start-up Valar Atomics recently announced that it has raised $130 million in its Series A funding round, led by venture capital groups Snowpoint, Day One, and Dream.

The Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office has approved the Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) for Oklo Inc.’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility (A3F) at Idaho National Laboratory. The A3F is being built to fabricate fuel assemblies for Oklo’s Aurora Powerhouse, a liquid metal–cooled, metal-fueled fast reactor with a maximum power of 75 MWe.

At the American Nuclear Society’s Winter Conference & Expo, leaders of advanced reactor start-ups Radiant Industries, Oklo, and Valar Atomics praised the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program, in which the companies are participating. The program aims to get at least three reactors on line by July 4, 2026.

Two bills were introduced in the last several weeks aiming to address nuclear power at the end of life—decommissioning plants and recycling used fuel.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.

Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.

Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.

The Department of Energy has fast-tracked its selections for the Fuel Line Pilot Program. Four companies—Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X, and Valar Atomics—were named September 30 as “conditional selections” for a “fast-track approach to commercial licensing,” bringing the total to five. The first company conditionally chosen for a DOE-authorized fuel fabrication facility—Standard Nuclear—was named less than three weeks after the program opened to applicants in July.

After making waves last week at Idaho National Laboratory by breaking ground on its first Aurora Powerhouse reactor, Oklo has again made headlines this week by partnering with Stockholm, Sweden–based advanced reactor developer Blykalla.

Following the same milestones from Aalo Atomics and Valar Atomics, Santa Clara, Calif.–based reactor start-up Oklo has become the third company participating in the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to break ground on its fast-tracked project at Idaho National Laboratory.

Late last week saw two announcements from companies working to recycle used nuclear fuel on a commercial scale, providing welcome news to anyone hoping to see the United States move to unlock the hidden potential of the more than 94,000 metric tons of spent fuel stored at power plant sites around the country.

A strategic collaboration has been launched by Lightbridge Corporation and Oklo Inc. to explore locating Lightbridge’s fuel fabrication facility within Oklo’s planned advanced fuel manufacturing facility. The collaboration aims to “accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear fuels through joint fuel fabrication and research and development, including manufacturing fuel using repurposed plutonium from legacy materials,” according to the companies.

The race to bring test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, got a boost today when the Department of Energy unveiled the names of 10 companies selected for the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program—a new pathway that allows reactor authorization outside national labs.

As first outlined in one of the four executive orders on nuclear energy released by President Trump on May 23 and in the request for applications for the Reactor Pilot Program released June 18, the companies must use their own money and sites—and DOE authorization—to get reactors operating. What they won’t need is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.

In back-to-back press releases, Oklo recently announced two new partnerships that seek to advance the deployment of its commercial power reactors in the data center market.

These partnerships, one with Ohio-based Vertiv Holdings and one with Colorado-based Liberty Energy, continue Oklo’s trend in working to position their Aurora powerhouse as a key part of the energy solution for powering the AI boom.

Following the signing of a new agreement, Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, is officially the lead constructor for Oklo’s first commercial Aurora powerhouse, which will be built at Idaho National Laboratory.

The U.S. Department of Air Force has announced its notice of intent to award advanced nuclear technology company Oklo a contract to pilot a microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

The title for this year’s waste management issue of Nuclear News is, in my opinion, the perfect framing to consider spent fuel and waste management as we know it now and how we imagine it could look in the future. So, let’s break it down.

What really is “today’s challenge”? It’s certainly not safety. Since 1955, we have conducted more than 2,500 cask shipments without a single radiological release or incidence of harm to a member of the public. Despite what antinuclear evangelists (in dwindling numbers) might shriek, the industry’s record of storing and transporting used fuel is unassailable.

The lack of progress on a geologic repository isn’t necessarily a challenge to new nuclear development. We already have systems capable of storing used fuel assemblies for more than a century, proven technology with no moving parts.

Oklo cofounder and CEO Jacob DeWitte and KHNP CEO Joo-ho Whang following the virtual signing of an MOU. (Source: Oklo)

Oklo announced last week that it hopes to expand development and global deployment of its advanced nuclear technology through a new partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

The memorandum of understanding includes plans for the companies to advance standard design development and global deployment of Oklo’s planned Aurora Powerhouse, a microreactor that would generate 15 MW and be scalable to 50 MWe. Oklo said each unit can operate for 10 years or longer before refueling.

Oklo and KHNP plan to cooperate on early-stage project development, including manufacturability assessments and planning of major equipment, supply chain development for balance-of-plant systems, and constructability assessments and planning.

The National Reactor Innovation Center is accepting applications from developers ready to take a fueled microreactor to criticality inside the former Experimental Breeder Reactor-II containment building at Idaho National Laboratory, now repurposed as DOME—a microreactor test bed. According to a Department of Energy announcement, DOME will be ready to receive the first experimental reactor in the fall of 2026, with testing likely to begin in 2027.

Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.

Advanced nuclear company Oklo Inc. has new leadership for its board of directors as billionaire Sam Altman is stepping down from the position he has held since 2015. The move is meant to open new partnership opportunities with OpenAI, where Altman is CEO, and other artificial intelligence companies.