Oklo reactor pipeline swells to 2.1 GW as demonstration project advances

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  • Oklo has received nonbinding letters of intent to provide up to 750 MW from its Aurora powerhouse reactors to two major data center operators, expanding its project pipeline to approximately 2,100 MW, the advanced reactor company said Wednesday.

  • Separately, Oklo in September finalized an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and secured an environmental compliance permit, allowing it to move forward with site characterization for its first reactor deployment, planned for Idaho National Laboratory in late 2027, the company said Thursday in its Q3 2024 investor update.

  • Oklo plans to submit an initial combined license application for its 15-MW microreactor design to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year in support of the INL deployment, followed shortly by subsequent combined license applications for early commercial deployments, CEO Jacob DeWitte said on a Thursday earnings call.

Since Oklo announced its plans to go public in July 2023, the company’s project pipeline has grown from 700 MW to around 2,100 MW, it said in the Q3 investor update.

The two new data center customers have asked not to be identified publicly at this time, Oklo Chief Financial Officer R. Craig Bealmear said Thursday.

In its Q2 2024 investor update, Oklo announced or reiterated agreements or “pre-agreements” to provide 50 MW of power to Diamondback Energy’s oil and gas operations, up to 100 MW of power to data center operator Prometheus Hyperscale (formerly Wyoming Hyperscale) and up to 500 MW of power to data center operator Equinix.

Oklo’s Q3 investor update hinted at additional customer announcements in the near future, citing “numerous commercial customer discussions underway [with] terms being worked prior to Oklo being able to announce.”

Recently announced power purchase deals between Microsoft and Constellation Energy and Amazon Web Services and Talen Energy “have established new price floors for baseload low-carbon power, with some expected at or above $100/MWh,” Oklo said in the investor update.

Oklo expects this pricing to “continue and sustain itself moving forward,” DeWitte said. “We’re getting more clarity on the actual market pricing for nuclear power.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s rejection of the Talen-AWS amended interconnection service agreement earlier this month may “really significantly incentivize near-term deployment in sort of an islanded mode behind the meter,” DeWitte said. With a 50-MW reactor design that aligns with the power demand of individual data halls — the smaller units that comprise larger data center campuses — and allows for iterative expansion as data center campuses expand, Oklo could benefit from such a paradigm, he said.

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