Oklo Receives U.S. Department Of Energy For Final Operations Hold Point At Its Groves Isotope Test Reactor, Allowing Move Into Research, Testing, And Training Phase

With the facility cleared for unrestricted operations, Oklo will test its capabilities relevant to future isotope reactors and Oklo’s fast fission reactors, the Aurora powerhouse.

Groves-1, under DOE authorization through the DOE Reactor Pilot Program (RPP), reached first criticality at low power less than a year after groundbreaking. The test reactor demonstrated the ability to engineer, construct, authorize, commission, and operate a full nuclear facility. Its next phase will build on this experience to help Oklo prepare the teams and systems needed to support the efficient delivery and operation of additional nuclear projects.

That preparation has already begun. During a recent reactor startup, operators wore eye-tracking glasses to record what they were looking at and for how long, giving the team data to improve the facility’s human-machine interface and inform future design choices. Groves-1 will also serve as a key training and qualification platform for nuclear personnel at future reactor deployments, alongside further equipment testing, including continued evaluations of control rod drive mechanism performance and reliability.

Additionally, Groves-1 will enable criticality and reactivity benchmarking operations that support Oklo’s isotope production capabilities, its engineering and design models, and potentially light water reactors and the large light water reactor fleet. The resulting data could also help improve fuel performance and power output in small and large light water reactors.

Groves-1’s operating experience will directly inform Groves-2 Forge, Oklo’s planned isotope production and processing pilot facility selected under DOE’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative. Groves-2 Forge will integrate historically fragmented parts of the isotope value chain, combining reactor irradiation with hot-cell processing capabilities. Facility capabilities will include isotope separation, product recovery, packaging, and transportation, with initial focus on lutetium-177, an isotope used in targeted cancer treatments.