DOE Approves Safety Design for Oklo’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility

Oklo has announced that the United States Department of Energy (DOE) reviewed and approved its safety design strategy (SDS) for the Aurora fuel fabrication facility at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The Aurora fuel facility is designed to demonstrate the reuse of recovered nuclear material to support Oklo’s commercial advanced fission power plant test at INL.

The INL selected Oklo for access to the fuel material through a competitive process launched in 2019. The solicitation will advance the deployment of commercially viable reactors by providing developers with access to the resources required to produce high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). HALEU will be provided for advanced reactors by recovering uranium through electrorefining treatment on used fuel from the recently decommissioned Breeder Reactor II.

“The approval of the SDS is an important step to enable fabrication of fuel for the Aurora advanced fission power plant,” said Dr. Jess Gehin, INL’s Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear Science and Technology. “As the nation’s nuclear energy research laboratory, we are committed to working with private companies like Oklo to develop advanced fission technologies that will provide clean energy to the world.”

Aurora fuel fabrication facility at INL; Image Credits: Idaho National Laboratory

The SDS represents an initial stage of the DOE approval process prior to the operation of the Aurora fuel fabrication facility. Oklo and Battelle Energy Alliance, the operator of INL, are working on the next phase, which focuses on the conceptual safety design report (CSDR). The CSDR summarizes hazard analysis efforts and safety-in-design decisions incorporated into the conceptual design, along with identified project risks related to selected strategies.

“The SDS approval is a major step towards a DOE approval of the Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility as we continue towards our goal of producing fuel for our planned Aurora commercial power plant,” said Jacob DeWitte, Co-founder and CEO of Oklo.