Nuclear technology company Oklo Inc. broke ground on its Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for its first Aurora powerhouse, ushering in a new era of nuclear energy in the U.S.
Aurora powerhouse, the Aurora-INL, is Oklo Inc.’s flagship advanced nuclear reactor, which is designed to deliver clean, reliable power on a much smaller scale than traditional nuclear plants.
The nuclear tech company is in the midst of developing next-generation fission powerhouses to produce abundant, affordable, clean energy at a global scale. Its mission to do so begins with the Aurora powerhouse, which can produce up to 75MWe of electrical power, according to its website.
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The company held an event on Monday with Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte and INL Director John Wagner to commemorate the moment the company broke ground on one of the first commercial-scale advanced nuclear reactors being built in the U.S. in decades.
Several members of Congress, along with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Bradley Crowell, the Energy Department’s (DOE) Michael Goff and Robert Boston, and Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper were in attendance.
Oklo is participating in the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, which is designed to speed up the approval and construction of advanced nuclear reactors.
The goal of the program is to have at least three different advanced reactors up and running by July 4, 2026. These reactors will be built outside of government labs to underscore how they can work in real-world, commercial settings.
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“This opportunity positions us to build quickly under DOE authorization, then convert to a commercial operating license under the NRC,” DeWitte said, adding that the Department of Energy had an “exceptional record of overseeing nuclear systems, starting with the nation’s earliest reactors, and intends to accelerate construction of advanced reactors.”
DeWitte credited the NRC with excelling at commercial fleet oversight, saying “their roles are complementary, and together they provide a path to put clean power on the grid sooner and scale responsibly.”
The Aurora-INL is a sodium-cooled fast reactor that uses metal fuel. Its design is based on an older reactor, the Experimental Breeder Reactor II, which successfully operated in Idaho for 30 years up until 1994.
In 2019, the Department of Energy gave Oklo permission to use recycled fuel from that earlier reactor. Since then, Oklo has already cleared two of the four approval steps it needs to start making the fuel for Aurora at its new facility in Idaho.
This project is expected to create approximately 370 jobs during construction. It will also take 70–80 long-term, highly skilled roles to operate the powerhouse and A3F.
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