Oklo and Siemens Energy sign power conversion system contract

The contract will see Siemens Energy "conduct detailed engineering and layout activities for a condensing SST-600 steam turbine, an SGen-100A industrial generator, and associated auxiliaries to support Oklo’s first advanced reactor, the Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory".

Tobias Panse, Senior Vice President, Steam Turbines and Generators, Siemens Energy, said: "Siemens Energy and Oklo will develop the best solution for power supply. We offer best-in-class solutions for reliable power supply with the highest efficiency. Oklo’s small modular reactor solutions are ideal for companies with large power demand."

Alex Renner, Oklo's Chief Product Officer (pictured above with Tobias Panse), said: "Aurora's inherent safety allows us to use proven, commercially available power systems like Siemens Energy’s turbine technology. That design philosophy shortens timelines, lowers costs, and turns advanced nuclear into a deployable product. We believe this is a historic step forward for the advanced nuclear industry - a real-world purchase that demonstrates progress toward deployment and operation."

Oklo said that the contract "helps to de-risk supply chain and production timeline challenges and demonstrates concrete execution capability", with its fuel and site already allocated for the unit at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Oklo's sodium-cooled Aurora powerhouse is a fast-neutron reactor that uses heat pipes to transport heat from the reactor core to a supercritical carbon dioxide power conversion system to generate electricity. Building on the design and operating heritage of the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), which ran in Idaho from 1964 to 1994, it uses metallic fuel to produce electricity and usable heat, and can operate on fuel made from fresh high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) or used nuclear fuel.

The company has received both a site-use permit at INL and access to fuel recovered from the historic reactor in 2019 following a competitive process launched by the DOE to provide access to fuel material.