Mentioned:
The first fast fission power plant to ever be built in the United States of America is making progress.
What’s happening:
- Fast fission power company Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) has finalized their Memorandum of Agreement with the United States Department of Energy to begin conducting site investigations in Idaho at the location of their future nuclear energy project
The big idea:
- Oklo has been collaborating closely with the Department of Energy to build out the first ever commercial scale advanced fast fission power plant in the United States of America
- Oklo’s fast fission power plant design is focused on a self controlled, self cooling reactor that is extremely safe and leverages technology breakthroughs that have been validated at commercial scale for generating nuclear energy
Why it matters:
- Oklo is the only advanced fission company with a Department of Energy site use permit, as well as a secured supply of nuclear fuel to power their project
- The Department of Energy has been pushing the adoption of nuclear power in the United States, previously committing multiple billions of dollars in new funding to securing uranium supply domestically
Going deeper:
- OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman is one of the largest investors in Oklo and helped lead the company public through a notable SPAC transaction onto the New York Stock Exchange
- Bill Gates founded clean energy company TerraPower previously broke ground on their leading edge nuclear power plant in Wyoming, which notably received the largest loan ever granted to a private company by the Department of Energy
