The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released the conceptual design for Oklo Inc.’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility. approved.

The new facility will be located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and will help convert used material from DOE’s former EBR-II reactor into usable fuel for its advanced nuclear power plant.

Oklo expects the first commercial Aurora power station to be deployed in 2027.

Fuel for Aurora

The Conceptual Safety Design Report was first submitted earlier this year to DOE’s Idaho Operations Office, which is responsible for the nuclear safety and regulatory authority for the project.

The approval of the design concept is an important step in demonstrating advanced fuel recycling technologies.

The Aurora power plant is a liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor designed to operate on both fresh high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and spent nuclear fuel.

The new facility will produce fuel using HALEU sourced from EBR-II.

Oklo has been given access to 5 tonnes of HALEU as part of a partnership agreement with INL that was competitively awarded in 2019. The newly manufactured fuel will be used to power the initial Aurora power plant reactor core at INL.

“We are proud of our partnership with INL and DOE as we move closer to operating our first commercial power plant using this recovered fuel in just a few years,” says Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo.

What’s next?

Oklo will continue to work with INL to complete the facility design and obtain DOE approval prior to the start of construction.

Last month, Oklo finalized agreements with DOE to begin characterizing the location of their preferred site for the Aurora power plant, in support of their combined license application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

DOE retains ownership of the HALEU both during and after its use.

Oklo has also received previous DOE support through several GAIN vouchers to advance the Aurora powerhouse design, along with additional funding to demonstrate recycling technologies through ARPA-E.

Read more about our GAIN program.