
Oklo launches Aurora advanced fission clean energy plant in US - tosh
https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/oklo-launches-aurora-plant/
======
formertwitter
Very much an aside, but I love the name "Oklo" for a nuclear power company.
Oklo is a location in Gabon where they found proof of a "natural" nuclear
reaction.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reac...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor)

You smarty pants may have already known about Oklo, but as a kid, and even
today, this information absolutely delights me.

~~~
acidburnNSA
They were originally called UPower and changed the name. I really like the
name Oklo too. When they first changed it, I thought for sure it was a
reference to "little tiny reactors in Africa." So far their target market
seems to be rural Alaska. Also, one of the co-founders is from Oklahoma, so I
think that factored in as well.

------
mechhacker
I'm not able to find much on this reactor.

It's quite small (which is a good thing for expediency and cost of getting a
new design running).

It looks like they just recently got a site permit:
[https://morningconsult.com/2019/12/10/advanced-reactor-
devel...](https://morningconsult.com/2019/12/10/advanced-reactor-developer-
oklo-receives-site-use-permit-from-energy-department/)

The OP's press release indicates their use of metal fuel (as opposed to oxide)
and heat pipes.

The 1.5MW design, if it uses heat pipes, likely won't scale to a larger,
higher output design without changes in the heat transfer system (at the
least). But, since they're testing out new fuel, that may just be part of
their long term plans...

~~~
nine_k
Instead, it can scale out, by mass-producing small modules and running
batteries of them.

1.5 MW is not a lot, of course, you need two orders of magnitude more to feed
a large city. Still could work great for small cities, especially remote and
cold, if cost of production, construction, and service would be reasonably
low. That's where the economy of scale could kick in.

~~~
Merrill
1.5 MW is the output of a medium sized wind turbine. Of course, the "battery"
has controllable, rather than variable, output.

------
i_am_proteus
> The Aurora advanced fission power plant, also known as fission battery,
> produces approximately 1.5MW of electric power, as well as possesses an
> ability to generate usable heat.

> The plant utilises metal fuel to generate heat, a superior fuel type which
> is established with decades of experimental data.

Understandable PR move, but still bizarre that the word "nuclear" appears
nowhere in the article.

~~~
mechhacker
They specifically mention metal fuel which is an industry term for a type of
nuclear fuel.

~~~
brians
Also fission. But there’s no way to get a quote that will go nookular from
this.

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Animats
"Oklo wanted “to channel a little bit of Apple-type vibe” and build up
excitement for the plant concept, said DeWitte, Oklo’s chief executive, in an
interview ahead of the permit announcement."

What are they thinking? Something like a radioisotope thermoelectric
generator? Those are possible, but there's a Pu-238 shortage.

A similar announcement from General Electric in the 1950s.[1] Except that
actually worked.

[1] [https://youtu.be/nn1zESA0V8k](https://youtu.be/nn1zESA0V8k)

~~~
jacobush
That movie is amazing, makes you want to build your own reactor.

------
hirundo
I'm not seeing the stories on this mention the risk of widely distributing
radioactive materials in these mini plants. How hard will it be for black hats
to extract it for a dirty bomb? How vulnerable is it to being bombed directly?
Is it cost effective to surround them with enough concrete and rebar to keep
the nasty stuff inside?

~~~
mechhacker
Another article mentions their site permit is for INL:
[https://morningconsult.com/2019/12/10/advanced-reactor-
devel...](https://morningconsult.com/2019/12/10/advanced-reactor-developer-
oklo-receives-site-use-permit-from-energy-department/)

They'll be using all the existing (and likely expanded) security and other
infrastructure at that site.

If you've ever been to a running plant you would notice the high security,
including heavily armed guards. You can't just walk into these places and take
stuff.

~~~
acidburnNSA
The problem for a 1.5 MW commercial reactor is that paying security guards and
building physical barriers very quickly becomes cost prohibitive. If you have
a 1000 MW plant, it's doable. But at 1.5 MW it's really hard to run 3 shifts
of guards and operators cheaply. Some have considered significantly
undergrounding nuclear plants to help deal with this, but then cost of
excavation gets way up there.

~~~
bsder
> The problem for a 1.5 MW commercial reactor is that paying security guards
> and building physical barriers very quickly becomes cost prohibitive.

It's not clear that we won't have to do this _anyhow_ as shooting transformers
with rifles is a problem, too:

[https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2016/09/26/jla-
tho...](https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2016/09/26/jla-thousands-
lose-power-after-vandal-shoots-main-transformer/)

[https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-grid-
attack-20140211-st...](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-grid-
attack-20140211-story.html)

~~~
omegabravo
there is a substantial difference in severity between a transformer being
compromised and a fission reactor being compromised

~~~
bsder
Probably less than you think.

A lot of transformers used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the insulating
oil. Those tend to contaminate groundwater and degrade on the same timescales
as radioactivity.

We have, fortunately, banned the usage of such things for quite a while. But,
if a transformer hasn't been replaced in the last 20 years, it's probably
hazardous.

------
waynenilsen
Good branding taking the nuclear out of fission

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
And adding battery haha. This is how you know wind and solar are scaring them.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

------
simonCGN
Rather limited information in the article. Not really useful.

------
laydn
It seems to me the biggest hurdle in nuclear energy is the (lack of) speed
with which you can build a new plant (and therefore cost). It seems to me that
any new type of reactor must be built much more efficiently in order to gain
traction. I bet a new plant with "old" design which can be built in 2yrs would
be much more popular than a new plant with state of the art reactors which can
be built in 5 years.

~~~
DennisP
That's why so many companies, like Oklo, are building small reactors that can
be mass-produced in factories.

------
marcell
I couldn’t find anything I’m the article about cost. Typically nuclear is a
bit more expensive than natural gas. Is that the case here?

~~~
yorwba
They probably haven't worked out all the kinks yet, so I'd expect the first
few reactors to be more expensive than typical nuclear plants. They wouldn't
want to advertise that.

------
stevespang
No word "nuclear" in the article ?

There is no verified fission reaction that is used to produce energy on this
planet yet, is this a scam ?

Oklo said the Aurora plant can produce power for decades without any need to
refuel. It can also recycle fuel and ultimately convert nuclear waste to clean
energy.

Oklo has been engaged in pre-application activities with the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission since 2016 for the Aurora design, and says it is
preparing to submit its first licence application. The company has previously
received federal cost-shared funding for technology development through the US
Department of Energy's cost-shared Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in
Nuclear (GAIN) initiative.

[https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsoklo-reveals-design-
for...](https://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsoklo-reveals-design-for-small-
fission-renewables-hybrid-reactor-7541051)

Oklo faces significant hurdles on its road to regulatory approval, though. For
one thing, Aurora is a liquid metal-cooled fast reactor, a design that has
been used almost exclusively on submarines. “Frankly, the regulatory paradigm
is built for large reactors,” DeWitte says. [https://www.wired.com/story/the-
next-nuclear-plants-will-be-...](https://www.wired.com/story/the-next-nuclear-
plants-will-be-small-svelte-and-safer/)

~~~
simonh
>There is no verified fission reaction that is used to produce energy on this
planet yet, is this a scam ?

Fission, not fusion.

