SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oklo Inc. has been awarded a $6.1 million cost-share project in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), Deep Isolation, and Case Western Reserve University from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The project is funded under the ARPA-E Converting Used Nuclear Fuel Radioisotopes into Energy (CURIE) program. The CURIE program was recently launched to fuel the commercialization of advanced fission technology while reducing waste.
Over the last year, Oklo has been selected by the U.S. DOE for four cost-share projects, totalling over $15 million to commercialize advanced reactor fuel from nuclear waste. Oklo’s CURIE project will focus on one of the critical steps for recycling waste from the current fleet, converting used oxide fuel into metal so it can be recycled using the process that Oklo is commercializing. “Fuel recycling can impact how quickly we decarbonize. Since used fuel is about 95% recyclable, you can transform waste into a viable resource,” said Jacob DeWitte, Co-founder and CEO of Oklo. There is enough energy content in today’s used fuel to power the entire country’s power needs for over 100 years without carbon emissions. Additionally, certain long-lived radioactive isotopes get consumed in the power generation process, which reduces and transforms the disposal burden of used fuel.
Oklo has a unique position within the nuclear fuel cycle by being able to recycle waste from other reactors as well as its own reactors. “Building on our other DOE projects to demonstrate the end-to-end recycling process, the CURIE project will position Oklo to build a first-of-a-kind commercial recycling facility and produce advanced reactor fuel economically and efficiently for our powerhouses,” added DeWitte. The deployment of a commercial-scale fuel recycling facility will contribute to building an energy independent future for the country while securing a fuel supply chain via used fuel recycling.
About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. (Oklo) is a California-based company developing advanced fission power plants to provide emission-free, reliable, and affordable energy. Oklo received a Site Use Permit from the U.S Department of Energy, successful fabrication of fuel prototypes, was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and developed the first advanced fission combined license application accepted and docketed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and is developing waste-to-energy fuel recycling in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and several national laboratories.
