The Department of Energy has approved the documented safety analysis for Oklo’s Groves Isotope test reactor in Lockhart, Texas under its reactor pilot program.
This approval under DOE’s authorization for the reactor pilot program puts Oklo’s Groves test reactor into its final pre-startup phase, the operational readiness review, Oklo said in a Wednesday press release. The company, which has two projects selected under the reactor pilot program, is targeting to have its Graves reactor to reach criticality this month.
The development of Groves reactor, which will be used Oklo’s Radioisotope Pilot Facility, supports Oklo’s work in isotopes and “helps establish a stronger domestic supply chain for critical isotopes used in cancer diagnosis and treatment, advanced manufacturing, scientific research, space exploration, and national security applications,” the company said.
Former German managers of nuclear operators have sent a letter recently to the German government, urging it to consider restarting several nuclear plants.
According to a June 25 article by German newspaper company Blid, the managers called the pivot away from nuclear power in Germany a political mistake. The letter asked the German officials to consider a framework that would enable the restart of nuclear plants. The letter was addressed to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Economics Minister Katherina Reiche and Christian Democratic Union/Christian-Social Union Leader Jens Spahn.
Germany began shutting down its nuclear plants in 2002. Following Japan’s Fukushima accident in 2011, Germany passed a law to accelerate the phasing out of nuclear power. By 2023, Germany shuttered its last three operating nuclear reactors.
The Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority have agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on fusion technology.
The MOU builds on the King Charles III address to the joint meeting of Congress in Washington, D.C. in April, according to the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority’s June 25 press release. The April 28 meeting highlighted partnerships between the U.K. and the United States on fusion and quantum computing.
U.K. Atomic Energy Authority said the MOU sets out a program of collaboration with a varying range of fusion disciplines to support both nations’ ambitions to deploy commercial fusion. Under the MOU, DOE’s Princeton Plasma lab and the UK Atomic Energy Authority will seek to grow academic and scientific cooperation through fusion science and technology.