Nuclear

Data centers driving Oklo’s nuclear project pipeline

Oklo has signed letters of intent with Equinix, Diamondback Energy and Wyoming Hyperscale, which could bring its current total deployment of Aurora powerhouses to over 1,350 MW in capacity.
Data centers driving Oklo’s nuclear project pipeline
(Oklo Aurora powerhouse. Image: Gensler.)

Advanced nuclear company Oklo now has non-binding letters of intent for about 1,350 MW of microreactor capacity, a 93% increase from its 700 MW project pipeline in July 2023, the company told investors in its Q2 earnings call this week.

Of the 650 MW announced during the second quarter of this year, 600 MW were for data center projects. Earlier this year, Oklo signed a pre-agreement with data center colocation company Equinix to provide up to 500 MW of nuclear power. The company has signed an LOI with Wyoming Hyperscale to deliver 100 MW through its data centers.

Another notable agreement could result in Oklo providing 50 MW of power to oil & gas company Diamondback Energy in the Permian Basin in Texas.

The company is working to convert these LOIs into power purchase agreements toward the end of this year and beginning of next, the company said in recent filings to the SEC.

Oklo is developing next-generation nuclear power plants called “powerhouses.”

The company’s Aurora powerhouse design is a fast neutron reactor that would transport heat from the reactor core to a power conversion system and is designed to run on material from used nuclear fuel known as HALEU, or “high assay, low-enriched uranium.” The reactor builds on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II and space reactor legacy.

The Aurora powerhouse is designed to scale to 15 MW and 50 MW offerings today. Oklo is also evaluating a 100 MW or larger offering that we’re developing.

“We are targeting 15 and 50 megawatt ranges to start because based on the feedback we’ve seen from our customers, that’s a really great size range to be in to meet their needs,” said Oklo Founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte on this week’s earnings call.

DeWitte said the company can scale up with data center projects, which generally don’t come online all at once.

“We can build up to match where our customers are going as they grow their order book and their demand in a phased way, while also building an extra reactor that is providing power on standby for them when they need it,” he said.

Oklo’s first Aurora powerhouse is targeted for deployment in 2027 at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Oklo obtained a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the INL site in 2019. The company applied with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in March 2020 to build and operate the INL reactor. This was the first combined license application ever accepted by the NRC for an advanced non-light water reactor.

In January 2024, the company announced that DOE had reviewed and approved the Safety Design Strategy (SDS) for its Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility at INL. The Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility is being designed to demonstrate the reuse of recovered nuclear material to support the reactor demonstration.

Oklo has also formed a non-binding strategic partnership with Atomic Alchemy, which aims to combine Oklo’s expertise in building and operating fast reactors and fuel recycling with Atomic Alchemy’s expertise in isotope production.

The company plans to build its second and third plants in southern Ohio, on land owned by the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI). Earlier this year, Oklo entered into land agreements with SODI, which built on the companies’ initial agreement from May 2023.

The Ohio and Idaho projects are for powerhouses at the 15 MW size. But more recently, there has been more interest in the company’s 50 MW offering, Oklo officials said.

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