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Oklo · Lockhart, TX · TexasDEVELOPER HEALTHWATCH
Zero-power test reactor for isotope production; fifth reactor to go critical under DOE's 2026 pilot push.
Power
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Fission · Research and prototype
Storage
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energy capacity
Online
Aug 5, 2026
actual
Capital committed
—
closed or awarded
Capital pending
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conditional or under review
How it works
The core sits in a pool of liquid metal or molten salt that carries heat away at normal pressure. Some designs store that heat in molten-salt tanks so the plant can boost output when the grid needs it.
OPEN IN 3D →DOE authorized
issued Jul 2, 2026
The Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart, Texas is authorized by DOE under the Reactor Pilot Program, not NRC; I found no NRC docket for it. DOE approved the Documented Safety Analysis on July 2, 2026, and the reactor reached criticality on August 5, 2026, the fifth DOE-authorized reactor to do so.
NEXT: No next licensing step found in sources. Oklo's Groves 2 Forge isotope facility is a separate project under DOE's NRIC Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative.
No project-level financing disclosed yet.
Grid connection, permits, contractors and cost not researched yet for this project.
Not applicable: test or demonstration machine, sells no power
STEP 4/6 · AT RISK HALEU is the bottleneckMost advanced designs need HALEU (5–20% enriched), with no commercial US supply at scale yet.
STEP 4/4 · WATCH Office relaunched as Energy Dominance FinancingLending shifts toward nuclear and utility expansions (AP1000 offers, Constellation uprates).
Critical inputs
Policy that applies