US advanced nuclear technology developer Oklo has signed a US Department of Energy (DOE) agreement to support the design, construction and operation of its first reactor, the Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

The agreement, known as an “other transaction agreement” (OTA) was signed under DOE’s reactor pilot program (RPP), which is designed to speed up the development and deployment of advanced reactors.

Santa Clara, California-based Oklo, in which OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman is a major investor, said the DOE’s Idaho operations office subsequently approved the nuclear safety design agreement (NSDA) for the plant, and Oklo immediately asked the DOE to begin a review of its preliminary documented safety analysis.