PIKE COUNTY, Ohio — Nuclear startup Oklo and Meta Platforms on Thursday announced an agreement to support development of a proposed 1.2-gigawatt nuclear power campus in southern Ohio, a project that would represent one of the largest advanced nuclear energy investments in the state’s history and a major expansion of power supply for Meta’s growing data-center operations.
The agreement outlines a framework under which Meta would prepay for electricity and provide early funding to help Oklo advance development of multiple small nuclear reactors on more than 200 acres in Pike County, land once owned by the U.S. Department of Energy at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.
Oklo said the funding would be used to secure nuclear fuel and begin early development activities for its Aurora “powerhouse” reactors, with site work and characterization expected to begin in 2026. The company said it aims to bring the first phase of the project online around 2030 and expand capacity incrementally to reach 1.2 gigawatts by 2034.
The announcement marks a significant commercial milestone for Oklo, a Silicon Valley–backed company that has no operating reactors, and comes as technology companies increasingly turn to nuclear power to meet surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
A project with high stakes — and unresolved questions
While the agreement signals growing interest in advanced nuclear power, Oklo enters the Ohio project after years of regulatory setbacks, financial scrutiny, and skepticism from investors and nuclear analysts.
In 2022, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected Oklo’s combined license application for its Aurora reactor design at Idaho National Laboratory, citing insufficient information related to safety and design details. The NRC rejection was notable because it was a denial rather than a request for revisions, a relatively uncommon outcome for reactor licensing applications.
Oklo has since said it is working toward submitting a new application, but as of Thursday, none of its reactors have received NRC approval, and no commercial Aurora reactor has been built.
The company has also drawn attention from financial analysts and short sellers. In late 2024, investment firm Kerrisdale Capital Management released a critical report describing Oklo as a pre-revenue company with an unproven technology, warning that regulatory hurdles, fuel availability, and capital requirements could delay or derail commercialization. The report questioned Oklo’s cost projections and timeline and argued that additional capital raises would likely dilute shareholders.
Following the report, several law firms announced investigations into whether Oklo had made misleading statements to investors, though no wrongdoing has been established, and the company has denied the allegations.
Oklo’s stock has experienced sharp swings since going public, reflecting both enthusiasm around nuclear power’s role in AI infrastructure and concern over the company’s long path to commercial deployment.
Nuclear analysts note that Oklo’s Aurora reactor design is based on fast-spectrum, sodium-cooled reactor concepts first developed in the 1960s, technologies that were researched by the federal government but never approved for widespread commercial use in the United States. While proponents argue modern materials and computing improve safety, critics point out that similar sodium-cooled designs were abandoned decades ago due to technical complexity, cost overruns, and safety challenges, including the chemical reactivity of liquid sodium coolant. Oklo has not yet operated a reactor or received final approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, leaving open questions about whether the design can be licensed, built, and operated at scale without encountering the same obstacles that halted earlier fast-reactor programs.
Fuel, financing, and scale
Oklo’s reactors are designed to use high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) or recycled nuclear fuel, materials that remain in limited supply in the United States. Access to fuel at scale has emerged as a broader challenge across the advanced nuclear industry, which depends on a still-developing domestic supply chain.
Under the Meta agreement, Oklo said customer funding would help reduce early-stage project risk by enabling fuel procurement and pre-construction work. Meta described the deal as a way to add new power generation to the grid rather than draw electricity away from existing customers.
“Our agreement with Oklo enables the development of 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear energy in southern Ohio, supporting Meta’s operations in the region,” said Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy, in a statement.
Oklo said the project could generate thousands of construction jobs and some long-term operations positions, as well as new tax revenue for local and state governments. Local redevelopment officials described the project as part of broader efforts to repurpose the former uranium-enrichment site for clean energy and advanced manufacturing.
A test case for advanced nuclear
The Ohio project would place Oklo at the center of a national debate over whether small, advanced reactors can move from concept to large-scale deployment quickly enough to meet rising electricity demand.
Industry analysts note that while corporate power-purchase commitments can help finance development, nuclear projects still face long timelines, complex licensing processes, and high upfront costs.
For Oklo, the Meta agreement represents its most concrete step yet toward commercialization. Whether the project moves forward as planned will depend on regulatory approvals, fuel availability, financing conditions, and the company’s ability to execute a first-of-its-kind nuclear build.
Critics warn that the simultaneous development of Oklo’s advanced reactors and Centrus Energy’s plans to expand HALEU and LEU production at Piketon could turn the area into a concentrated hub of nuclear activity with heightened safety and environmental risks. The site already bears decades of contamination from the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and some residents and local watchdogs argue that introducing unproven reactor technology alongside commercial uranium enrichment compounds the danger. They say the combination of legacy pollution, radioactive fuel handling, and experimental reactor designs raises the potential for accidents or contamination, a concern that federal cleanup efforts have yet to fully resolve.