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.

Nuclear start-ups Oklo and Flibe Energy both announced this week that they have been 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.

According to multiple reports, three other companies—Exodys Energy, Shine Technologies, and Standard Nuclear—have also been selected for advanced negotiations under the program, which is being led by the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

The Department of Energy has a plan for private companies to “dispose of surplus plutonium”—about 19.7 metric tons in both oxide and metal forms—by “making the materials available for advanced nuclear technologies.” A Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program request for applications (RFA) issued October 21 describes the plutonium on offer, and the “thresholds” prospective applicants must meet.