By Mackenzie Tatananni

Oklo, the clean energy start-up, said it was taking part in a Department of Energy initiative that will help it to accelerate the rollout of its nuclear powerhouses.

The company said it would participate in a voucher program managed by ENERGYWERX, a partnership intermediary created to connect the Department of Energy with small businesses and expand the development of energy technologies.

Oklo is developing so-called fast fission reactors, which make maximum use of uranium fuel. Fast reactors get their name from fast neutrons, or the type of subatomic particles they use to sustain fission chain reactions and generate energy.

The DOE initiative is intended to support Oklo in testing structural materials that are critical for the company's Aurora powerhouse, which is set to be installed at Idaho National Laboratory by the end of 2027. The proposed design can run on recycled nuclear fuel from other power plants and requires refueling as infrequently as once every decade.

The voucher isn't a grant of money to Oklo itself. Rather, the funding goes to the DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where testing will take place.

"We have strategically pursued partnerships like such because it is a more effective way to carry out work," a company spokeswoman told Barron's. She said the DOE initiative and similar arrangements allow the company to "leverage existing infrastructure and expertise without having to build something from scratch."

That is crucial because Oklo hasn't begun to produce revenue. The start-up went public in May through a merger with AltC Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company headed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Since then, Oklo has signed a number of deals including a power purchase agreement with Switch, which builds and operates data centers, and a memorandum of understanding with Texas-based power generation company RPower to deploy a phased energy model for data centers.

Under the terms of the agreement, RPower's natural-gas generators will be deployed within 24 months, followed by Oklo's Aurora nuclear powerhouses as they become available. The powerhouses will eventually supply most of the energy needed.

Last month, Oklo said it was exploring the co-location of commercial fuel facilities alongside fuel developer Lightbridge.

The stock has more than doubled over the past 12 months. Of seven analysts surveyed by FactSet, five rate the stock at Buy or the equivalent, while two rate it at Hold.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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February 25, 2025 08:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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