What's New
Oklo, the Sam Altman-backed nuclear fission startup, has signed an agreement with data-center operator Switch that the company says is the largest-ever corporate power deal.
The agreement calls for Oklo constructing its small modular reactors by 2044 to power Switch's data centers, which are used by large energy-intensive clients like Google and Nvidia. The deal calls for enough of the reactors to deliver 12 gigawatts of electricity. For scale, one gigawatt is enough to power 300,000 homes.
Why It Matters
This marks the largest corporate clean power agreements ever signed, according to Oklo, eclipsing the deal Microsoft recently made to restart parts of Three Mile Island.
It comes amid a growing demand for nuclear energy to power, among other things, the data centers that are fueling the rise of artificial intelligence. AI companies have energy demands that aren't "even imaginable yet", the company said, and need consistent and sustainable power, which rules out renewable and fossil fuels.
What To Know
Oklo is targeting late 2027 for its first commercial reactor to come online, though it faces significant roadblocks. Still, the start-up has been on a dealmaking tear this year, linking up with other large clients to power their operations.
In April, Oklo signed a non-binding letter of intent to collaborate on a 20-year power purchase agreement with Diamondback Energy to supply power to its shale-oil operations in the Permian Basin.
The company also signed a non-binding letter of intent in May with Wyoming Hyperscale to collaborate on a 20-year power purchase agreement to supply 100 megawatts to its data center campus.
In September, Oklo finalized an agreement with the Department of Energy to move forward with its first commercial microreactor, a major step for the company seeking to transform the nuclear energy industry with small modular reactors that require less time and money to build and operate than traditional nuclear plants.
Oklo still needs federal approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) — an approval it has already once been denied. Oklo hopes its tie-up with Switch will allow the company to scale in response to a growing demand for advanced modular reactors.
Oklo, whose name comes from the region of Gabon, Africa where self-sustaining nuclear fission reactions took place naturally about 1.7 billion years ago, went public in May. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was an early investor and now serves as the company's chairman.
The startup is the only advanced fission company with a Department of Energy site use permit. The department awarded Oklo the site use permit originally in 2019, though the NRC rejected its first application to build a microreactor in 2022.
Oklo is working to disrupt the way nuclear reactors are currently built and run by miniaturizing the reactors themselves. Unlike current nuclear reactors, an Oklo microreactor, which it calls Aurora, would only take up about two acres of land.
Also unlike a large nuclear reactor, Aurora doesn't require water as a coolant. This means Oklo can drive costs down significantly and "tap into existing supply chains," the company previously told Newsweek.
Today's reactors use about five percent of the clean energy they give off, meaning nearly 95 percent of the energy content is wasted, according to Oklo.
Oklo is aiming to disrupt the nuclear industry by developing scalable nuclear power plants based on liquid metal reactor technology, the company told Newsweek. The startup will then sell the power generated from an Aurora micoreactor directly to customers under long-term contracts instead of a licensing agreement. This "takes the burden away from our customers" of having to create a plant to use the technology. Oklo will simply supply the energy.
What People Are Saying
Bonita Chester, a spokesperson for Oklo, to Newsweek: "The agreement supports the development of multiple new data centers for Switch, aligning with their ambitious expansion plans and future energy demand projections. This collaboration goes beyond financial investment; it is about forming long-term partnerships that accelerate deployment and scale the business sustainably."
Rob Roy, the founder and CEO of Switch, in a press release: The Okla deal will allow Switch to remain "the leader in data center sustainability."
Stock Talk, on X: "This morning's 12-gigawatt power agreement between $OKLO and Switch should be a gentle reminder that the nuclear energy & datacenter themes are far from over."
What Happens Next
Oklo still requires approval from the NRC before it can bring its first reactor online, something the company still hopes to do within three years.
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