Milestones
- NRC denies first combined licence applicationJan 2022Complete.
- Selected for DOE Reactor Pilot ProgramAug 2025Complete.
- Groundbreaking at INLSep 2025Complete.
- DOE approves preliminary documented safety analysisJun 2026Complete.
- Construction and fuel loadingNowCurrent milestone.
- Commercial operationTarget 2028Not yet reached.
Most important updates
- 11 Jun 2026
- 6 May 2026
- 17 Mar 2026
- Sep 2025
- Jan 2022
Upcoming
- 2028Commercial operation (next)
Current obstacles
- Fuel supplyAurora needs HALEU metal fuel; Oklo partly relies on recovered EBR-II material from INL until commercial supply exists.
Physics limits
- Sodium burns in air and reacts with waterLiquid sodium ignites in air and reacts violently with water, so every pipe needs leak detection and the power cycle must be kept apart from it.
- Fast reactors need more enriched fuelWithout a moderator, fewer neutrons cause fission, so the core needs HALEU enriched up to 19.75% uranium-235, which few plants in the world can make.
- Fast neutrons swell the fuel claddingFast neutrons make steel cladding swell and embrittle, and fission gas builds up inside the fuel, which limits how long fuel can stay in the core.
How it works
Metal fuel, fast neutrons
HALEU metal fuel fissions with fast, unslowed neutrons, the approach proven by the EBR-II test reactor that ran at the same Idaho site for 30 years.
Liquid metal at low pressure
Liquid sodium carries heat out; it stays liquid far above operating temperature, so the reactor runs near atmospheric pressure.
Heat to a turbine
Heat from the coolant drives a power-conversion system; the first INL unit is planned at about 75 MWe.
Sells power, not reactors
Oklo plans to own and run its plants and sell electricity and heat under long contracts, e.g. to data centres.
Update log
Thu 11 Jun
- Minor: PressRegulatory
Wed 6 May
- Minor: PressRegulatory
Tue 17 Mar
- Minor: PressRegulatory
Sep 2025
- Major: PressManufacturing
Jan 2022
- Major: RegulatorRegulatory
About Oklo
Oklo
Aurora fast microreactor, fuel recycling
Builds Aurora, a small liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor, and sells its power as a service instead of selling reactors. NYSE-listed since 2024, it broke ground on its first Aurora at Idaho National Laboratory in September 2025.
- The NRC rejected its first licence application in 2022; Oklo then sought DOE approval for the INL unit.
- Aurora-INL (75 MWe) broke ground in Sept 2025; DOE approved its preliminary safety analysis in June 2026.
- Big pipeline of data-centre customers, including a Meta deal for a site in Ohio.
- Founded
- 201313 yrs
- Headquarters
- United States
- Status
- Public
- Listed
- OKLO (opens google.com)NYSE
- Valuation
- public
- Coverage
- 1 program · 7 updateslatest 6 Aug 2026checked 25 Sep
- People
- Jacob DeWitteCo-founder & CEOCaroline CochranCo-founder & COO