Oklo Inc. (OKLO)

Oklo Inc., founded in 2013, is developing next-generation fast fission nuclear power plants called "Aurora powerhouses" designed to produce 15-75 megawatts electric (with potential expansion to 100 MWe and higher) using fresh, recycled, or down-blended nuclear fuel, building on technology demonstrated by the government-operated Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. The company's differentiated build-own-operate business model involves selling power directly to customers through power purchase agreements rather than licensing reactor designs, targeting data centers, military facilities, industrial customers, and utilities; it has secured a site use permit at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for its first commercial powerhouse (Aurora-INL), received a HALEU fuel award, and achieved multiple DOE regulatory milestones including approval of its Nuclear Safety Design Agreement and Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis, with a target deployment in 2028. Beyond power generation, Oklo is commercializing nuclear fuel recycling technology to convert used nuclear fuel (which retains ~95% of its energy content) into usable fuel, advancing an Advanced Fuel Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (with up to $1.68 billion in planned investment) and a fuel fabrication facility at INL selected under the DOE's Fuel Line Pilot Program; it is also exploring alternative fuel sources including plutonium from DOE dilute-and-dispose programs.

The company became public via a May 2024 merger with AltC Acquisition Corp. and expanded into radioisotope production through its February 2025 acquisition of Atomic Alchemy, which was selected for a DOE Reactor Pilot Program project to build a Radioisotope Pilot Facility. Notable commercial developments include a 12 GW Master Power Agreement with Switch, Ltd. signed in December 2024, non-binding letters of intent with Equinix, Diamondback Energy, and Prometheus Hyperscale, exploration of fuel recycling and power sales with the Tennessee Valley Authority, tentative selection to supply Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, and a January 2026 prepayment agreement with Meta Platforms to develop a 1.2 gigawatt power campus in Pike County, Ohio, where the company purchased land in December 2025. Kiewit Nuclear Solutions was selected as lead constructor for the Aurora-INL project.

On the regulatory front, Oklo submitted the first custom combined license application to the NRC in 2020 (denied without prejudice in 2022) and is preparing an updated submission, having completed a Phase I pre-application readiness assessment in July 2025 with no significant gaps identified; it also received NRC acceptance of its PDC topical report under an accelerated review timeline. The company reported total operating expenses of $139.3 million for 2025 (up from $52.8 million in 2024) and expects 2026 operating cash use of $80-100 million and investing cash use of $350-450 million; it raised $300 million in gross proceeds through an at-the-market equity program in December 2025 before closing that program in January 2026. As of December 31, 2025, Oklo employed 205 full-time staff across 33 U.S. states plus two in Canada, including numerous PhDs, advanced-degree holders, and former NRC personnel, and operates in a heavily regulated industry shaped by DOE and NRC oversight, competing against traditional baseload power, other advanced nuclear technologies, renewables with storage, and fossil fuels with carbon capture.