Overview
- The Department of Energy issued startup authorization for Groves on July 24, 2026, completing the Reactor Pilot Program review and allowing Oklo to receive fuel and begin reactor operations.
- DOE’s authorization followed a formal readiness review that confirmed engineering systems, staff training, safety programs, and equipment matched the approved reactor design.
- Groves is a low-power test and isotope-production reactor built on private land with private financing to validate operations and produce medical, research, industrial, space, and national-security isotopes.
- Next steps include fuel receipt, core loading and startup testing toward first criticality, with Oklo using operational lessons from Groves to standardize processes for future commercial projects.
- The authorization produced a modest pre-market gain in Oklo’s shares and could speed a repeatable commercial deployment model by showing regulators and investors a path for privately built small reactors to support domestic isotope supply.