Oklo is developing the Aurora microreactor, which uses heat pipes to transport heat from the reactor core to a supercritical carbon dioxide power conversion system to generate electricity. It will use high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel. Oklo says the reactor builds on the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) and space reactor legacy. EBR-II features a hexagonal fuel element with a sealed heat pipe and a passive air-cooling system. Oklo initially marketed a 1.5 MWe microreactor version of the Aurora, but has now expanded its capacity offerings from 15 MWe to 100 MWe. In November, Oklo said it had a customer pipeline of 2,100 MWe for its Aurora powerhouse reactors.
Oklo received a site permit in 2019 from DOE to build its first Aurora facility at INL. In 2020, Oklo submitted a combined licence application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build and operate the facility. However, NRC denied the application, citing the company’s failure to provide sufficient design information. A revised application was submitted in September 2022.
The agreement provides for Oklo to develop, construct, and operate powerhouses to provide power to Switch across the US through a series of power purchase agreements. It leverages Oklo’s business model of simplifying clean energy access by selling power, not power plants. It offers customers a direct, flexible pathway to clean, reliable, and affordable advanced nuclear energy. Aurora powerhouses are planned to support growing energy demands as they are deployed in the future.
Oklo says the agreement will help accelerate early powerhouse deployments and also position the company to scale in response to a growing demand pipeline. It will also enable Oklo “to leverage Switch’s best-in-class execution while developing the financial and infrastructure model for scaling advanced nuclear”.
Oklo believes that Switch’s data centres, which support the computing needs of some of the world’s largest companies, are ideally positioned to handle AI workloads well into the future. “The relationship with Oklo underscores our commitment to deploying advanced nuclear power at a transformative scale for our data centres, further enhancing our offerings of one of the world’s most advanced data centre infrastructures to current and future Switch clients,” said Rob Roy, Founder & CEO of Switch. “By utilising Oklo’s powerhouses, we aim to ensure that Switch remains the leader in data centre sustainability while supporting our vision of energy abundance.”
Since January 2016, all Switch data centres have been powered by 100% renewable energy – nearly 984 GWh of green power annually. This Master Agreement supports Switch’s mission to build efficient, sustainable infrastructure while bolstering the voluntary market for renewable and clean energy sources.
“We are excited to collaborate with Switch on this historic agreement,” said Oklo Co-Founder & CEO Jacob DeWitte. “Oklo expects to benefit enormously from Switch’s record of turning visions into reality. The lifespan of this Master Agreement will allow us to iterate and evolve with Switch, from development to deployment to scaling. We believe that working with Switch will not only accelerate our early powerhouses but also accelerate our ability to scale by demonstrating customer demand for decades to come.”
