Advanced nuclear firm Oklo has signed an Interface Agreement (IAG) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking a key regulatory milestone in the siting and environmental review of its first commercial Aurora powerhouse—a compact passive fast-spectrum reactor—targeted for deployment at INL by late 2027.
The IAG with INL—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned and funded national laboratory—represents a detailed operational agreement ensuring proper environmental regulation implementation during the site investigation process. Oklo told POWER the agreement establishes protocols for site investigation activities, including conducting site characterization studies such as geotechnical assessments, completing cultural and biological surveys, and complying with federal and DOE environmental review processes to ensure responsible site development.
The IAG is a pivotal next step that follows a memorandum of agreement (MoA) finalized in September 2024 with the DOE’s Idaho Operations Office. The MoA granted Oklo access to conduct site investigations, including for geotechnical assessments, environmental surveys, and infrastructure planning.
Oklo said it has worked closely with INL and the DOE to prepare for site characterization work. Preparations included comprehensive cultural and biological surveys conducted in partnership with local Shoshone Bannock Tribes, located on the Fort Hall Reservation in Southeastern Idaho, between Pocatello, American Falls, and Blackfoot.
For Oklo, the two agreements serve as crucial regulatory and procedural frameworks that will allow the company to advance from conceptual planning to actual site characterization and development activities. “The efforts help maintain project momentum while ensuring a timely and responsible deployment,” it said on March 20. “Oklo’s proactive strategy in addressing environmental and regulatory requirements is designed to minimize potential delays and risks, keeping the project on track for its targeted construction timeline.”
“These agreements and reviews mark progress towards constructing our first advanced fission powerhouse. We are focused on ensuring that our development processes are both efficient and sustainable,” said Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo.
INL Project On Track for 2027
The agreements mark more incremental progress for Oklo’s commercial Aurora project at INL, which formally kicked off in 2019 when the DOE awarded the California-headquartered company a site use permit. Oklo’s “preferred site” is a 40-acre site located south of INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex. The proposed reactor is expected to occupy about 2 acres of the provisionally accepted site.
In 2019, INL granted Oklo access to processed and treated used fuel recovered from the now-decommissioned Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) for use in the fast reactor project. Last year, the project cleared more significant milestones. While the MoA finalized with the DOE in September formally authorized the company to conduct site investigations, the IAG cements the company’s regulatory obligations, ensuring that environmental and site characterization activities meet federal and DOE compliance standards. Oklo secured an Environmental Compliance Permit for the project in November, following a review by DOE and INL, a measure that confirms site characterization activities will have no significant environmental impact.
In October 2024, notably, the DOE approved the Conceptual Safety Design Report for Oklo’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility, marking a major step toward deploying the fuel facility at INL in 2027. The facility will fabricate fuel for Oklo’s first commercial powerhouse, whose liquid metal-cooled, metal-fueled fast reactor technology requires high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). Oklo plans to source five metric tons of HALEU from the former EBR-II reactor. As part of the next phases, Oklo is preparing its Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis (PDSA), with submission to the DOE targeted for mid-2025, followed by the Documented Safety Analysis, a key regulatory requirement before operational licensing.
While the Aurora Fuel Fabrication project is still under development, Oklo has already begun regulatory engagement as part of a broader long-term effort to commercialize fuel recycling. Oklo, notably, is planning a commercial fresh uranium fuel fabrication facility to support its broader deployment goals. Separately, it is also trailblazing in fuel recycling, seeking to convert SNF from LWRs (which is in the form of ceramic oxide) to usable metallic HALEU fuel.
For now, Oklo says it is on track to submit its first 15-MW combined license application (COLA) to the NRC later this year—with more progress expected to be reported possibly in the coming weeks.
A Full Value Approach
Oklo has told POWER it is developing a suite of nuclear solutions under a “full value chain” approach that involves managing smaller reactors’ design, build, and operation through power purchase agreements (PPAs). While development of the first commercial Powerhouse at INL is ongoing, the company has already secured a customer pipeline of 2.1 GW, including agreements with major data center operators like Prometheus, Hyperscale, and others. In December 2024, it partnered with Switch, a Las Vegas-based data center designer, builder, and operator, to deploy 12 GW of Aurora powerhouses through 2044 in a historic deal hailed as “one of the largest corporate clean power agreements ever signed.”
“Oklo is the only company with a DOE-approved site, secured fuel, and regulatory traction for deploying a commercial advanced powerhouse to enable deployment in the near term,” the company told POWER on Thursday. “This progress uniquely positions Oklo to deploy in the near term, with our first commercial powerhouse on track for late 2027.”
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
