Oklo just secured a direct path to turn Cold War-era plutonium into fuel for its advanced reactors.
The Department of Energy selected Oklo for advanced negotiations under the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, one of five companies chosen to convert existing stockpiles into usable fuel under strict security and safeguards rules. The move gives Oklo a practical bridge while domestic enrichment capacity scales.
The Santa Clara company is partnering with European advanced reactor developer newcleo on the effort. Oklo would lead U.S. utilization of the surplus material while newcleo would supply fuel expertise and potential project capital, subject to final agreements and U.S. security approvals.
The two firms already announced a strategic partnership last October that includes up to $2 billion in investment through a newcleo-affiliated vehicle for advanced fuel fabrication infrastructure in the United States. newcleo has since begun pre-application talks with the NRC for both a fuel facility and its lead-cooled fast reactor design.
“Fuel supply constraints are a key throttle to advanced reactor development,” Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte said in the announcement. The program converts material previously destined for disposal into electricity-generating fuel through fission.
This development builds directly on our prior coverage of Oklo’s plutonium work, including the announcement on the Oklo, NVIDIA, and Los Alamos collaboration exploring plutonium-powered AI applications. It also aligns with our earlier coverage on legislation that's been proposed for expanding the ability for reactor developers to deploy their technology on federal land, which also included language for repurposing additional surplus plutonium for reactor fuel purposes.
The selection will almost certainly draw opposition from Democrats and environmental groups who have long resisted any use of plutonium in civilian power generation.
The stance grows more absurd as the same politicians push aggressive decarbonization targets. Past resistance to recycled nuclear fuel programs and surplus plutonium disposition efforts has repeatedly prioritized symbolic concerns over engineering reality, even as the material already exists and must be secured regardless.