Oklo announces plans for Tennessee fuel recycling plant

The fuel recycling facility will be the first phase of a USD1.68 billion advanced fuel centre, the company said.

It is also exploring opportunities with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to recycle the utility's used fuel at the new facility and to evaluate potential power sales from future Oklo powerhouses in the region to TVA, a collaboration which Oklo says would be the first time a US utility "has explored recycling its used fuel into clean electricity using modern electrochemical processes".

"Fuel is the most important factor in bringing advanced nuclear energy to market," said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. "By recycling used fuel at scale, we are turning waste into gigawatts, reducing costs, and establishing a secure US supply chain that will support the deployment of clean, reliable, and affordable power. Tennessee is showing the nation that recycling can be done to support new nuclear development and growth."

Oklo said it has completed a licensing project plan for the fuel recycling facility with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is currently in pre-application engagement with the regulator's staff.

The 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 which can generate both electricity and usable heat using fuel made from either fresh high-assay low-enriched uranium or used nuclear fuel. Oklo is planning to build its first Aurora powerhouse on a site at Idaho National Laboratory for which it has previously said it intends to submit a combined construction and operating licence application to the NRC later this year. Oklo is one of the 11 initial companies selected by the Department of Energy for support through the Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to see at least advanced reactor projects achieve criticality in less than one year from now.

_{Attendees at the announcement of the planned advanced nuclear fuel centre included state and federal representatives (Image: Oklo Inc)}

More than 94,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel is currently stored at US nuclear power plant sites, and these contain considerable reserves of recyclable fuel. The fuel recycling facility will be the first phase of a multi-facility campus aimed at supporting recycling and fuel fabrication, Oklo said.

The US government halted reprocessing of used fuel from commercial reactors in 1977, as part of its stance against nuclear proliferation, but there have been several policy shifts since the early 2000. The Executive Orders signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year included directions to the Department of Energy to bring forward national policies on the management of used fuel and high-level waste and evaluate private-sector reprocessing options, amongst other things.

Government-owned TVA is the largest public power company in the USA, with a diverse generating portfolio including nuclear, hydro, coal, gas, solar and advanced technologies. Earlier this year, it submitted an application for a permit to construct an SMR at Clinch River, near Oak Ridge, using GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 technology. More recently, it has signed a collaborative agreement with ENTRA1 Energy to deploy up to 6 GW of NuScale SMR capacity, and has also signed a power purchase agreement with Kairos Power for up to 50 MW of electricity from Kairos Power's Hermes 2 demonstration reactor, which is to be built at Oak Ridge.

"The next generation of nuclear technologies are being built and developed right here in our own backyard," said TVA President and CEO Don Moul. "Our partnership with Oklo represents yet another step forward in shaping the future of nuclear energy and ensuring a secure energy future for the Valley and beyond."

The facility in Tennessee is expected to begin producing metal fuel for Aurora powerhouses by the early 2030s, following regulatory review and approvals, the company said.