Oklo Gets Initial Safety Approval From DOE For Aurora Facility To Begin Assembly

Aurora is the first facility approved under the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program, the company announced on Tuesday.

• The Idaho office of the U.S. Department of Energy has granted the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the firm’s Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility.
• The next step would be to obtain a Documented Safety Analysis (DSA), the third document that would provide an update on the facility's final design and construction. 
• Oklo is on the list of companies selected for the DOE’s nuclear pilot programs. 

Oklo Inc. (OKLO) announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho office has given an initial safety approval for its Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility, effectively granting permission to start facility assembly.

The DOE’s Idaho Operations Office has granted the nuclear technology company the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis (PDSA) for Aurora, the first facility approved under the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program, the company said.

The PDSA is the second out of three safety documents for the facility’s approval. Oklo said that the next step would be a Documented Safety Analysis (DSA), an update about the final design and construction of the facility.

DOE Nuclear Pilot Programs

Earlier this year, the DOE launched new pilot programs to hasten the development of advanced nuclear reactors and domestic fuel following Executive Orders from President Donald Trump to streamline national laboratory processes for reactor testing.

As part of this, the DOE issued a Request for Application (RFA) seeking U.S. reactor companies to construct and operate test reactors outside of the national laboratories with DOE authorization. Oklo is among the companies selected for the program. The Aurora facility will combine fuel production and power delivery to enable the commercial deployment of nuclear energy.

“By advancing modern fuel fabrication and recycling, we’re addressing fuel-supply constraints, improving the economics of our powerhouses, and opening new long-term revenue streams for the business,” Oklo’s co-founder and CEO, Jacob DeWitte, said. “We’re moving swiftly toward full deployment of this fuel facility where we will repurpose fuel from the legacy Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) for use in Oklo’s Aurora-INL.”

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around OKLO remained ‘bearish’ over a week, and message volume climbed to ‘normal’ from ‘low’ levels at the time of writing.

Shares of OKLO were down 0.28% in Tuesday’s pre-market at the time of writing and have surged over 345% in the past year.

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