Project advancing alongside advanced reactor company’s ‘broader work’ in US state
US advanced reactor company Oklo announced that the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Idaho Operations Office has approved the preliminary documented safety analysis (PDSA) for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The PDSA is a major step under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program authorisation pathway and represents a detailed review of the preliminary safety basis for the Aurora-INL plant, including the project’s hazard analysis, accident analysis, safety controls and design commitments.
Oklo said the approval advances Aurora-INL through a federal process designed to unlock US industrial capacity by enabling an accelerated deployment of scalable generation capacity under rigorous federal oversight.
Aurora-INL will be the first of Oklo’s planned fast fission power plants. The company has been granted access to recovered fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II)* following a competitive DOE process launched in 2019, the same year Oklo received a site-use permit at INL for the Aurora powerhouse.
Aurora-INL is advancing alongside Oklo’s broader work in Idaho, including the Aurora fuel fabrication facility (A3F) where it will be fabricating the initial fuel assemblies for Aurora-INL from EBR-II fuel.
* The Experimental Breeder Reactor-II was a sodium-cooled fast reactor designed, built and operated by Argonne National Laboratory at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. It was shut down in 1994. Custody of the reactor was transferred to INL after its founding in 2005.
