""This project will create jobs, spur local innovation, and advance American leadership in energy technology," Urvi Parekh, head of global energy at Meta, said in a statement. "By investing in baseload nuclear energy, we're helping build a resilient and sustainable future for our communities." It's not unusual for utilities to negotiate long-term contracts for fuel for reactors. But this is the first known incident where a hyperscaler is purchasing the fuel that will generate the electrons it plans to buy, says Koroush Shirvan, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."
"Oklo emerged in the past year as the poster child for a possible revolution in the US on how nuclear plants are built. Until recently, the US hadn't started and completed any new reactors in a generation. By the time the only new machines came online at a Southern Company power plant in northern Georgia in 2023 and 2024-a pair of 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse AP1000s, the leading design for a traditional reactor in the US-the project was billions of dollars over budget and more than half a decade late."
Meta will purchase nuclear fuel for an Oklo reactor to support baseload nuclear energy, creating jobs, spurring local innovation, and advancing American leadership in energy technology. Hyperscalers rarely buy reactor fuel directly; utilities commonly negotiate long-term fuel contracts but a hyperscaler purchasing fuel for the electrons it plans to buy is unprecedented. Oklo promotes a build-own-operate model for small modular reactors. The US recently completed two large Westinghouse AP1000 units in Georgia that were years late and billions over budget, though the second unit was roughly 30 percent cheaper. The industry is pursuing smaller, repeatable reactor designs to reduce costs. Companies such as NuScale, GE Vernova-Hitachi, X-energy, and Kairos Power are pursuing shrunken designs.
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