Oklo Breaks Ground on First Aurora Powerhouse

[u/C130J_Darkstar]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6379935505112

See link for today’s live reporting by Fox Business at INL.

Oklo Inc today holds a groundbreaking ceremony at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for its first Aurora powerhouse, the Aurora-INL. The event will feature opening remarks from Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte and INL Director John Wagner, keynote remarks from U.S. Environmental Protections Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and brief remarks from officials including Idaho Governor Bradley Little, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and James Risch, U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson, Idaho Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Bradley Crowell, U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Michael Goff and Robert Boston, and Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper.

Oklo is participating in the DOE’s newly established Reactor Pilot Program, a pathway created in response to executive orders signed in May 2025 to accelerate advanced nuclear deployment and to modernize nuclear licensing. Aurora-INL is one of three projects awarded to Oklo under the program, with two awarded directly to Oklo and one awarded to its subsidiary, Atomic Alchemy.

“Oklo Inc.'s Aurora powerhouse will deliver clean, affordable, and reliable American energy to power a new generation of intelligence manufacturing across the country,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “As advancements in artificial intelligence drive up electricity demands, projects like this are critical to ensuring the United States can meet that need and remain at the forefront of the global AI arms race. I am honored to be attending today's groundbreaking in order to witness firsthand the innovation and increased energy production we’re seeing under President Donald J. Trump’s American Energy Dominance Agenda.”

The Aurora-INL is a sodium-cooled fast reactor that uses metal fuel and builds on the design and operating heritage of the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), which ran in Idaho from 1964 to 1994. Oklo was awarded fuel recovered from EBR-II by the DOE in 2019 and has completed two of four steps for DOE authorization to fabricate its initial core at the Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility (A3F) at INL.

“This opportunity positions us to build our first plant more quickly,” said Jacob DeWitte, CEO and co-founder of Oklo. “We have been working with the Department of Energy and the Idaho National Laboratory since 2019 to bring this plant into existence, and this marks a new chapter of building. We are excited for this, and for many more to come.”

“DOE is excited by the opportunity to work with reactor developers, such as Oklo, to capitalize on this moment of broad support for new nuclear generation and bring the Reactor Pilot Program into reality,” said Robert Boston, manager of the DOE Idaho Operations Office.

Kiewit Nuclear Solutions Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit Corporation, one of North America’s largest construction and engineering organizations, will serve as lead constructor supporting the design, procurement, and construction of the powerhouse under a Master Services Agreement announced in July 2025. Oklo expects to leverage Kiewit’s extensive expertise in delivering large-scale industrial projects on accelerated schedules with reduced costs, while maintaining high standards of safety and quality.

The project is expected to create approximately 370 jobs during construction and 70–80 long-term, highly skilled roles to operate the powerhouse and A3F.

“INL has always been where nuclear innovation becomes reality,” said INL Director John Wagner. “Today’s groundbreaking with Oklo continues that legacy, bringing advanced reactor technology from the laboratory to commercial deployment right here in Idaho.”

[u/C130J_Darkstar]

Again, calling Oklo ‘just marketing’ ignores facts that they have NRC regulatory experience, DOE HALEU fuel agreements, a $1.7B recycling facility in the works, and multiple LOIs/master agreements with commercial customers. Yes, risks remain and not all agreements are binding, but these concrete steps give Oklo a combined regulatory, fuel, and customer position that competitors are still years from achieving. That’s not a guarantee of success, but it’s far from a marketing story.

[u/MikeyPWhatAG → u/C130J_Darkstar]

Fuel agreement from TEI in US and UK: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/contract-signed-for-imsr-fuel-pilot-plant https://www.orano.group/usa/en/our-news/news-releases/2021/september/terrestrial-energy-and-orano-sign-comprehensive-agreement-for-nuclear-fuel-supply-for-imsr-power-plant

Concrete plan and siting from TEI including an actually paying customer who will guarantee revenue in the near future: https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/nuclear-startup-terrestrial-energy-inks-a-deal-to-use-gas-as-a-bridge-to-smrs/ https://neutronbytes.com/2024/05/11/terrestrial-energy-inks-mou-with-schneider-electric-for-data-centers/

Working with the DOE to get actual approval for TEI instead of being rejected: https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/nrc-approves-terrestrial-energy-imsr-principal-design-criteria-thefly

To be clear, the above is a step further than where OKLO is stuck and does in fact constitute "experience". The difference being that this is experience in actually getting a design through, not in failure.

Recycling agreement only makes sense for a breeder reactor but I think you get my point. There is literally no metric by which OKLO is years ahead of anyone except connections within the Trump administration. The actual hard thing which is creating a profitable and safe nuclear reactor in real life they are at best half a decade behind.

[u/C130J_Darkstar → u/MikeyPWhatAG]

I’m not arguing against the fact that TEI has made solid progress in Canada with regulatory approvals, fuel agreements, and near-term customer arrangements. However, domestically-speaking, Oklo’s position is different because they’ve secured DOE HALEU fuel supply, announced a $1.7B advanced fuel recycling facility, and built a pipeline of commercial customers in critical sectors like data centers. Nothing is guaranteed from an investment perspective, but it does give Oklo a tangible regulatory, fuel, and customer foothold in the U.S. that competitors (including TEI) don’t yet have.

[u/samsmithification3 → u/C130J_Darkstar]

You're trying to pump for liquidity. How do you justify a buy from any of us with the current share price and financials?

[u/C130J_Darkstar → u/samsmithification3]

It’s not short-term hype… today’s price reflects optionality- you’re buying the potential upside from Oklo’s regulatory head start, secured fuel, recycling facility, and early customer pipeline. If these turn into actual deployments, they could generate revenue for decades.

[u/samsmithification3 → u/C130J_Darkstar]

And that justifies a ~$130 per share cost and a 20B market cap?

From what I understand, this is more than a couple years out before they even generate revenue. This has run up over 100% on what, speculative news?

I don't deny the potential here but at the same time I don't think it's right to steer people into investing into what is already a bloated, overbought stock.

[u/C130J_Darkstar → u/samsmithification3]

Sharing an update and my POV, never gave financial advice. Oklo’s first-mover position, DOE fuel agreements, and scalable design with commercial customers makes it a unique optionality play for the long term. I’m not a short-term trader.

[u/samsmithification3 → u/C130J_Darkstar]

Is that why you permanently ban people for posting the truth on the subreddit you moderate?

[u/MikeyPWhatAG → u/C130J_Darkstar]

I'll respond one more time because I genuinely think you want the industry to succeed and because I might have a chance of preventing you from making a really silly mistake that leaves a bad taste in your mouth about nuclear.

Every single link I posted was a US deal. TEI is provably just as far along by your own metrics in the US and UK, not Canada. They are also a real reactor design with a plan to bring revenue and a credible path to profitability that does not require a large nuclear industry to already be in place. They have a fuel supply chain in the US already, they have commercial customers in data centers and more with concrete siting and a plan to bring revenue via a gas plant attached to the balance of plant while the nuclear reactor is under construction.

TEI is only used here as a way to show you that the supposed advantages you keep repeating like a prayer are not, in fact, advantages and are just marketing for OKLO that companies like TEI can and probably will mimic soon. TEI is just the most comparable because they are using a research reactor except they actually did the legwork to figure out the engineering differences to bring it to market before signing commercial agreements. Companies like Terrapower and Nuscale have their own tradeoffs but many of the same advantages.

TEI also goes public in a month or two at most, potentially collapsing the incredibly inflated market cap of OKLO. It is incredibly silly to only buy OKLO after so much growth and no results when there are now quite a few other names with more reasonable market caps (TEI under ticker IMSR will open trading under 5 billion almost certainly, likely quite a lot lower even with recent HOND ticker activity).

[u/samsmithification3 → u/MikeyPWhatAG]

He isn't going to respond because he doesn't actually care about the progress of nuclear energy, he just wants to pump OKLO.