Oklo to build fuel recycling facility in Tennessee

Oklo (OKLO) announced plans to design, build, and operate a fuel recycling facility in Tennessee as the first phase of an advanced fuel center through investment totaling up to $1.68B and aiming to create more than 800 jobs. The initial investment will be for the construction of a facility to recycle used nuclear fuel into fuel for fast reactors like Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse and will be the first of its kind in the U.S. Oklo is also exploring opportunities with the Tennessee Valley Authority to recycle the utility’s used fuel at the new facility and to evaluate potential power sales from future Oklo powerhouses in the region to TVA. The recycling facility will recover usable fuel material from used nuclear fuel and fabricate it into fuel for advanced reactors. Oklo has completed a licensing project plan for the fuel recycling facility with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is currently in pre-application engagement with the regulator’s staff. The facility in Tennessee is expected to begin producing metal fuel for Aurora powerhouses by the early 2030s. The energy that can be unlocked from this used nuclear fuel stored at power plant sites around the country via recycling is equivalent to about 1.3 trillion barrels of oil, or five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia. The fuel recycling facility is the first phase of Oklo’s broader advanced fuel center, a multi-facility campus aimed at supporting recycling and fuel fabrication.