Oklo, NVIDIA, and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have announced a strategic collaboration to advance nuclear fuel validation and support the development of nuclear-powered AI factories. The partnership integrates Oklo’s sodium-cooled fast reactor technology, NVIDIA’s advanced AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, and LANL’s expertise in materials science and nuclear fuels. LANL hosts the collaborative R&D efforts at its facility in New Mexico.
The collaboration aims to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear energy through several initial focus areas:
- AI-Enhanced Fuel Validation: Developing physics- and chemistry-based AI models, specifically trained inference models, to support the validation and research of plutonium-bearing fuels.
- Materials Science R&D: Researching the fabrication of plutonium-bearing fuels to optimise modern manufacturing and quality assurance processes.
- Nuclear-Powered AI Factories: Designing “integrated full-stack solutions” that combine nuclear power generation with high-density AI data centres. This includes studying grid reliability, redundancy, and stabilisation to ensure resilient power for massive AI compute demands.
- Digital Twins and Simulation: Utilising digital twin technology to create virtual models of nuclear infrastructure, which is intended to streamline development and reduce the time needed to bring commercial products to market.
This agreement is a key component of the US federal government’s Genesis Mission, a Department of Energy (DOE) initiative launched in November 2025 to create a powerful AI-driven scientific platform aimed at doubling US R&D productivity.
The fuel R&D specifically supports Oklo’s Pluto reactor, which was one of two Oklo reactor designs selected under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program. The other is the Auroro Powerhouse. Pluto is a plutonium-fuelled fast test reactor project. Aurora is a sodium-cooled fast reactor that builds on the design and operating heritage of the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), which ran in Idaho from 1964 to 1994.
Oklo continues to target commercial power generation by the end of 2027, following its site use permit from DOE and ongoing work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
“This agreement brings together reactor deployment, high-performance compute, and world-class fuel and materials science expertise” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “We believe this will advance our plutonium-bearing fuel work on Oklo’s Pluto reactor, which was selected under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, and help bring resilient power in support of the Genesis Mission.”
Projects under the agreement include integrated full-stack solutions to support nuclear powered AI factories; AI development, including physics and chemistry trained AI models to support nuclear fuel R&D; grid stabilisation, reliability, and redundancy studies; materials science efforts focused on plutonium-bearing fuel; and proof of concept work related to the development of a nuclear powered AI factory.
Oklo is already conducting plutonium fast reactor critical tests with LANL at DOE’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) under a Strategic Partnership Project (SPP). NCERC is located at the LANL-operated Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), under the oversight of DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
It provides specialised test assemblies, diagnostic systems, and expert staff to perform rigorous, highly controlled criticality and reactivity experiments. The work builds on a growing collaboration between LANL and Oklo spanning SPPs and a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement focused on advanced fuels, such as plutonium, and advanced reactors.
Oklo says LANL is an essential partner for developing and validating plutonium as an advanced reactor bridge fuel by providing the R&D foundation needed for future fast reactor development and deployment. The addition of NVIDIA’s AI expertise is expected to accelerate developments.
Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the DOE for a commercial advanced fission plant (Aurora), was awarded fuel from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined licence application for an advanced reactor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with DOE and US National Laboratories.
