DOE OKs Startup of Oklo Research Reactor in Texas

• DOE OKs Startup of Oklo Research Reactor in Texas
• Blue Core Raises $10M for Floating LWR Type SMRs
• US Plans To Evaluate Feasibility Of Undersea Nuclear Reactors
• Samsung Heavy Inks Deal with U.S. Firm on FSMR development
• Amentum Selected for Savannah River AI Project
• Standard Nuclear Announces Licensing and Construction Milestones 
• Clean Core Thorium Energy and Quadrant Nuclear Industries in MOU for HALEU
• Newcleo Announces MOX Fuel Licensing In France 

DOE OKs Startup of Oklo Research Reactor in Texas

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) startup authorization allows Oklo to load nuclear fuel, conduct startup testing, and proceed toward the first criticality of its research reactor in Lockhart, TX, which is located about 30 miles south of Austin, YX. 

In just over 10 months, Oklo progressed from groundbreaking to receiving DOE startup authorization for its first reactor at the Groves site.The Groves low-power test reactor will demonstrate reactor operations that support Oklo’s plans for commercial-scale domestic isotope production. Fact sheet 

Operating experience from the laboratory will help develop processes, procedures, and systems that can be applied to Atomic Alchemy’s planned multi-reactor isotope foundry. The foundry is planned to include up to four non-power Versatile Isotope Production Reactor (VIPR) systems with a capacity of around 15 MWth each. The light-water-cooled, pool-type reactor is intended to support production of isotopes for medical and healthcare, industrial, space, defense, and research applications.

During that period, Oklo built the reactor facility, established the operating organization, qualified personnel, implemented nuclear programs and procedures, procured fuel and major equipment from commercial suppliers, and completed the DOE authorization process.

Groves is a commercial-scale facility, meaning Oklo can repeat the experience with demonstrated experience in siting, building, commissioning, and operating its commercial reactors in the future with confidence in how long it takes and how much it costs to build its isotope production reactors.

Groves is a pool-type, water-cooled, non-pressurized reactor using low-enriched uranium fuel. It is being developed to build operating experience for future isotope production systems. It is not designed around large-scale steam generation, high-pressure operation, or commercial electricity production.

The Groves Isotope Test Reactor is located in Lockhart, TX. about 30 miles south of Austin, TX.  This authorization is granted under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program. 

Groves, a privately financed facility, demonstrates nearly every element of a commercially oriented deployment model that Oklo can repeat and scale across future projects. The facility was built on private land, including full-scale civil excavation and construction, and assembled with all full-scale systems, components, and fuel either sourced commercially or manufactured by Oklo.

“This facility marks the fastest time that we are aware of to go from greenfield to substantial completion for a full-scale, privately funded and sited reactor in history,” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte.

“By building on a greenfield site on private land, performing full-scale civil excavation and construction, and procuring fuel and all major components commercially, we demonstrated that the advanced nuclear industry can move at a pace that many did not believe possible. And this experience is fully translatable to future commercial deployments.”

The startup authorization follows a readiness review, through which DOE confirmed that Oklo has achieved the engineering, organizational, and operational readiness needed to safely receive fuel and begin reactor operations. 

A readiness review is a critical final step in DOE’s startup authorization process: a multidisciplinary DOE team evaluates whether facility procedures and personnel training are adequate; the facility and equipment conform to the approved design, safety equipment functions properly; and required safety management programs have been implemented.

Oklo fully developed these safety management programs in-house rather than relying on an established or pre-existing operating framework within an established facility such as a national laboratory.

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Blue Core Raises $10M for Floating LWR Type SMRs

Emerging from stealth mode, Bluecore Energy announced it has raised $10 million in seed funding. Investors led by Slauson & Co. in the round include Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Visible Hands, LMNT, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, and actor Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures, as well as several angel investors.

The firm is developing LWR design small modular, water-cooled nuclear power reactors designed to operate aboard floating energy barges and deliver reliable, zero-emission power directly to ports, critical infrastructure, and cargo ship propulsion. 

The first application is power generation. The larger ambition is to build nuclear energy systems for the maritime economy bringing reliable, zero-emission energy to the ports and infrastructure.

The company is headquartered at the Port of Long Beach, placing its engineers and operators directly within one of the world’s largest ports in the US. The company is the first small modular reactor company to establish its headquarters inside a major U.S. port.

The firm was founded earlier in 2026 Kofi Asante, who previously worked with Uber Freight. It plans to build LWR type micro reactors that will use a closed loop steam system. 

Asanta told Tech Crunch Bluecore’s barges can also be docked near communities, and can connect to the power grid via subsea cables. The goal is to try to power the “equivalent of approximately 15,000 homes or scale to meet the power needs of a major port.” He added that the firm has secured a port terminal, barge, and test reactor pressure vessel. The energy expected to be produced on Bluecore’s barges can be moved by ship to its next location, reducing the emission involved in its transport to zero, Asante claims. Plus, he said the entire system behind the nuclear power plant only needs to be refueled once every few years.

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US Plans To Evaluate Feasibility Of Undersea Nuclear Reactors

(NucNet) The US Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) and US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will collaborate to evaluate the feasibility of advanced undersea nuclear power plants. The evaluation will be for nuclear plants on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the submerged lands lying seaward of state coastal waters anywhere from three nautical miles (5.5 km) to 200 nautical miles (370 km) or more from the shore.

MMA acting director Matt Giacona said, “Submerged reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as a reliable source of energy in demanding marine environments.”

He said that with nearly 3.2 billion acres (1.2 billion hectares) of the OCS under federal jurisdiction, the MOU is an important step toward building the technical expertise, regulatory clarity, and interagency coordination needed to assess whether and how nuclear technology could be responsibly implemented in the years ahead.

No commercial nuclear power plants are approved or planned in US federal waters, but the agreement is designed to assess whether and how the technology could be “responsibly implemented” in the future.

Jeremy Bowen, director of the NRC’s office of advanced reactors, said: “This agreement creates a clear framework for how our agencies will work together and ensures our processes remain efficient, transparent, and technically robust. By combining expertise, we can provide clarity and confidence to potential future applicants and enable the safe, secure, and efficient deployment of emerging nuclear technologies.”

Undersea nuclear plants could be the next frontier for the industry. Russia has already conceptualized anchored underwater nuclear power pods to supply electricity that would remote northern or Arctic seabed resource deposits.

In 2014 French naval defense company DCNS, now the naval Group, worked on a concept for the Flexblue reactor, an underwater plant with a rated power of 160 MW based on proven pressurized water reactor technology. The entire plant was designed to fit within a hull of 14 meter diameter and 145 meter length, placed on or near the ocean seabed at a depth of between 30-100 meters,

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Samsung Heavy Inks Deal with U.S. Firm on FSMR development

(WNN) South Korean shipbuilding company Samsung Heavy Industries announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with USA-based engineering firm Sargent & Lundy for the development of a standardized floating small modular reactor platform (FSMR).

Under the MoU, Samsung Heavy Industries and Sargent & Lundy (S&L) plan to develop a standard floating small modular reactor (FSMR) platform for multiple reactor types “thereby providing versatility to enable the installation of various types of reactors and offering flexible options to shipowners and customers.”

In addition, the two companies agreed to cooperate in key stages of floating small modular reactor commercialization, such as development, licensing support, construction planning, and sea area deployment strategies, in order to visualize the early commercial deployment of the floating small modular reactor standard platform.

“Furthermore, we plan to improve the technical completeness of FSMR to meet changing international and US regulatory standards,” Samsung Heavy Industries said. “This agreement targets the global market, including the United States, and is expected to be a key step in advancing the FSMR project, currently at the conceptual design stage, to the actual commercial deployment stage.

“With the recent surge in electricity demand across all industries alongside the expansion of artificial intelligence data centres, it is attracting attention as an effective energy infrastructure for coastal island regions where securing onshore production sites is difficult or power grid connectivity is limited.”

Samsung Heavy Industries received Approval in Principle from the American Bureau of Shipping in December 2025 for a floating marine nuclear power platform featuring two SMART100 small modular reactors developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI).

Under the certification process, Samsung Heavy Industries was responsible for the integration of the SMRs with the floating structure, the overall design of the nuclear power generation facilities, and the development of a multi-barrier reactor containment system. KAERI, meanwhile, adapted the land-based SMART100 SMR for offshore applications.

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Amentum Selected for Savannah River AI Project

(WNN) The US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has chosen Amentum to enter negotiations for a phased lease to develop an artificial intelligence data center with 2 GWe of dedicated on-site energy generation at the industrial complex in South Carolina.

The public-private project would establish a 1 GW data center, initially powered by natural gas bridging to advanced nuclear energy. The project supports the goal of using federal lands to lower energy costs and help power the global AI race. 

The Savannah River Site was one of 16 potential sites identified by the US Department of Energy in April 2025 as being uniquely positioned for rapid data centre construction. Four of those – Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and Savannah River Site – were then selected to move forward with plans to invite private sector partners to develop AI data center and energy generation projects. 

“This proposed partnership represents an opportunity to strengthen America’s leadership in artificial intelligence, expand reliable energy generation, and strengthen our national security,” NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said. “By working with the private sector, we can move faster, apply innovative technologies, and make productive use of federal land while maintaining our commitment to mission delivery.”

Through the proposed project, the NNSA and Amentum intend to rapidly construct a data center supported by sufficient on-site power generation while increasing the availability of power to the grid; accelerate the development of AI and energy infrastructure; and use public-private partnerships to advance innovative technologies and strategies. 

Pairing new AI infrastructure with dedicated on-site energy generation will help ensure the project’s electricity needs are met without shifting costs to existing utility customers, according to the NNSA.

“Artificial intelligence, energy resilience, and national security are becoming increasingly interconnected, creating new opportunities to strengthen America’s strategic advantage,” Amentum CEO John Heller said.

Digital infrastructure provider DC BLOX has been selected as a digital infrastructure partner in the development consortium. DC BLOX, alongside Milliken & Company, Google and Nucor, is a founding member of the Palmetto Nuclear Coalition, an alliance dedicated to accelerating nuclear energy deployment across South Carolina which was launched in July 2025. 

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Standard Nuclear Announces Licensing and Construction Milestones 

Construction of two new advanced fuel production facilities in Tennessee and Idaho substantially complete, advancing toward commissioning, regulatory approval, and initiating production

Both facilities receive Preliminary Documented Safety Analyses (PDSAs) approval from US Department of Energy

Standard Nuclear (NYSE: STDN), a reactor-agnostic producer of TRISO nuclear fuel, announced construction and regulatory approval milestones across two of its upcoming nuclear fuel production facilities, marking a major milestone as the company works to expand its capacity for bulk production of advanced nuclear fuel from its existing footprint.

The company announced construction is substantially complete for SN-TN and for SN-ID, two new identical facilities capable of collectively adding up to 5 metric tons of uranium (MTU) per year of additional TRISO production capacity once fully scaled, with the facilities initially expected to provide up to 1 MTU of additional annual capacity each. The company expects start-up, commissioning, and licensing activities to advance for both facilities over the summer.

In parallel with these construction milestones, Standard Nuclear has received approval of Preliminary Documented Safety Analyses (PDSAs) for both of these nuclear facilities from the U.S. Department of Energy. Once fully authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy, these fuel lines are intended to operate as Hazard Category 2 (HC-2) nuclear facilities.

Standard Nuclear today operates its existing SN-0 facility in Oak Ridge, TN, which is currently producing TRISO with the ability to produce up to 0.5 MTU annually.

In addition, the company is continuing to build out another fuel line as a part of its joint venture with Framatome, Inc., leveraging the latter’s existing NRC license, in Washington state.

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Clean Core Thorium Energy and Quadrant Nuclear Industries in MOU for HALEU 

Companies will evaluate long-term domestic HALEU supply arrangements to support commercialization of advanced thorium-based nuclear fuel.

Clean Core Thorium Energy, Inc. (CCTE), a nuclear fuel innovation company advancing thorium-based fuel technologies, and Quadrant Nuclear Industries Inc. (QNI), a developer of integrated nuclear fuel cycle capabilities, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a framework for collaboration on the supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel.

Under the MoU, the companies will explore how domestically produced HALEU from QNI’s planned commercial reprocessing facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) could support the future commercial deployment of CCTE’s ANEEL fuel. 

The agreement reflects a shared commitment to strengthening the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies, and supporting U.S. energy security and decarbonization objectives.

HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) is a higher-enrichment nuclear fuel required by many advanced reactor and next-generation fuel technologies. Expanding domestic production has become a strategic priority for the United States as the country works to strengthen its nuclear fuel supply chain.

ANEEL combines thorium with enriched uranium and is designed for use in existing PHWR and CANDU reactors. Independent engineering analyses indicate that the fuel has the potential to achieve significantly higher fuel utilization while improving reactor safety characteristics and reducing spent fuel volumes.

QNI is developing an integrated HALEU production capability in coordination with the U.S. Department of Energy and other key stakeholders. Its planned reprocessing facility at INL is being designed to produce up to eighteen tonnes of HALEU annually at full capacity, supporting both commercial and government markets for advanced nuclear reactors.

The companies intend to collaborate on areas including fuel supply planning, technical interface requirements, commercial structuring, regulatory coordination, logistics considerations, and demand forecasting associated with future HALEU supply arrangements.

The MoU is non-binding and does not establish pricing, quantity, or exclusivity commitments. Any binding terms would be subject to a definitive agreement following further negotiation

About Clean Core

Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE) is a nuclear fuel innovation company focused on advancing thorium-based fuel technologies for existing and future reactor applications. Its patented ANEEL fuel combines thorium and enriched uranium. CCTE is working to expand deployment opportunities for advanced nuclear fuels that can leverage existing reactor infrastructure.

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Newcleo Announces MOX Fuel Licensing In France 

French nuclear safety agency ASNR considers as satisfactory the safety program proposed by newcleo for its planned MOX fuel facility. 

newcleo, a pioneer in advanced modular reactor technology and nuclear fuel manufacturing, announced a significant regulatory milestone for its planned mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel facility in France. The company is also entering a new phase of collaboration with French authorities following the evaluation of newcleo’s application for Phase 2 of the France 2030 innovative nuclear reactor program.

French safety approach considered satisfactory by the ASNR

The French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire et de radioprotection) (ASNR) has published on July 13, 2026 its opinion on all the safety features proposed by newcleo for its planned French MOX fuel facility, concluding that the provisions adopted by the Company for its safety approach are satisfactory at this stage.

In December 2024, newcleo submitted a safety approach dossier to the French nuclear safety authority for its planned MOX fuel fabrication facility in France.

Following its review, the ASNR has concluded that the provisions proposed by newcleo for the facility’s safety demonstrations which are envisioned are satisfactory and, overall, are capable of meeting the objectives established under the applicable French nuclear safety framework.

The ASNR’s opinion also identifies areas to be developed further as the project advances. newcleo intends to incorporate the ASNR’s recommendations into the facility design in support of a future construction license application.

The French review gives newcleo practical experience in developing the safety case for a first-of-a-kind MOX fuel manufacturing facility.

The Company is also progressing through a similar regulatory process for its Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) design and is currently awaiting the opinion of the ASNR on its proposed safety features.

In parallel, newcleo is carrying out a three-month public debate on its proposed French LFR and MOX fuel facility projects, becoming the first private developer of an innovative reactor technology to complete this key stage of stakeholder engagement in France.

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