Nuclear

Oklo and Argonne claim milestone in fast fission test

The THETA testing campaign is focused on the key thermal-hydraulic behavior of Oklo’s fast fission reactor design.
Oklo and Argonne claim milestone in fast fission test
THETA (Image: Argonne National Laboratory)

Advanced nuclear company Oklo said it has successfully completed the second phase of the Thermal Hydraulic Experimental Test Article (THETA) testing campaign in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory. THETA is a sodium fixture installed at Argonne’s Mechanisms Engineer Test Loop facility.

The THETA testing campaign is focused on the key thermal-hydraulic behavior of Oklo’s fast fission reactor design. Oklo says a better understanding of key thermal-hydraulic behavior enables design optimizations while providing high-fidelity data using high-fidelity instrumentation.

“Argonne’s leadership and technical expertise have been pivotal to THETA’s success, and the completion of the second phase of testing is a huge accomplishment,” said Patrick Everett, Deputy Senior Director of Product at Oklo. “THETA has and will continue to play a major role in Oklo’s testing endeavors to support our commercialization plans for our Aurora Powerhouses”

Oklo shared costs for the work done at Argonne National Laboratory with funding from a Department of Energy Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear voucher.

Last month, Oklo announced the signing of a lands right agreement with the non-profit Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) for land including options for the siting of two plants. The company recently announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reviewed and approved the Safety Design Strategy (SDS) for its Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

The Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility is being designed to demonstrate the reuse of recovered nuclear material to support Oklo’s planned commercial advanced fission power plant demonstration at INL.

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