Oklo will continue to pursue its Groves isotope production facility project in Texas under the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative, the company said Tuesday.
The Groves isotope production facility, referred to as Groves-2 Forge, will include “capabilities to produce, process and purify critical isotopes”, according to Oklo’s press release. Oklo said it wants to combine isotope irradiation and processing abilities at the facility to help it move towards commercialization.
“Groves-2 Forge is planned to integrate historical fragmented parts of the isotope value chain, specifically reactor irradiation with hot-cell processing capabilities, including isotope separation, product recovery, packaging, and transportation,” Oklo said in the release. “Its focus will be on lutetium-177 and other therapeutic isotopes for use in manufacturing radiopharmaceutical treatments.”
Oklo was one of the 12 advanced nuclear energy companies selected for 13 projects by the DOE’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC), which is located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, in late August. The company said under the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program it will build on its experience of its Groves isotope test reactor which was conducted under the reactor pilot program.
Oklo’s Groves isotope test reactor was one of the five reactors to achieve criticality under DOE’s reactor programs. It was also the first test reactor to go critical on private land.
Through these programs, Oklo said it wants to support the expansion of domestic critical isotope production to meet the needs in space exploration, the medical field and other scientific research areas.
“Groves showed how quickly a new reactor could be built and brought to criticality through close collaboration between the private sector and DOE,” Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte said. “Groves-2 Forge will build directly on that foundation by adding the capabilities needed to irradiate target materials and process and prepare valuable isotopes.”
