Oklo (OKLO +0.07%) stock soared 7.5% through 10:45 a.m. ET Tuesday morning after announcing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has chosen it -- and four other nuclear power companies -- to negotiate for the right to participate in the Department's Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program.
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What is the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program?
Most nuclear reactors run on uranium fuel, which, as it decays, can transform into plutonium-239 (which fissions to produce heat), unless it absorbs another neutron to form plutonium-240 (which doesn't fission as easily) or another neutron to form plutonium-241 (which does)! The even-numbered isotopes that don't decay as easily accumulate over time, and can eventually end up as "spent" nuclear fuel, but even this fuel can be recycled into something a nuclear fast reactor can use as fuel.
It's this fuel that Oklo would receive if it joins the program.
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What's next for Oklo
If chosen, Oklo would partner with "newcleo," a European developer of advanced nuclear reactors, to help build its own reactors fueled with plutonium. This would "solve" several problems at once: First, by reducing "nuclear waste," second, by creating electricity to help fuel the artificial intelligence revolution, and third, by giving Oklo another source of fuel for its reactors.
As Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte confides, "fuel supply constraints are a key throttle to advanced reactor development," but "this program creates a pathway to use existing surplus material as bridge fuel for advanced reactors to bring more reactors online sooner."
Admittedly, "sooner" is a relative term. Newcleo is currently in a "pre-application engagement" with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on its proposals to build both an advanced fuel fabrication facility and a lead-cooled fast reactor. Today's news may take years to turn into something that actually creates revenue for Oklo.
But it's a start.
