Oklo Inc. started site preparation last spring on the 248-acre parcel it purchased in Oak Ridge for its planned Advanced Fuel Recycling Center. This facility will create new nuclear fuel by recycling used nuclear fuel long considered to be nuclear waste.
A local Oklo office has been established. Commissioning of the constructed fuel facility, which will have hired up to 800 employees, is planned for 2030.
That information is from Emily Smith, who leads community relations across Oklo's U.S. sites. She spoke earlier this year to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge after a talk by Christina Leggett, director of fuel cycle technology for Oklo.
Oklo Inc., which is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange, has project sites in four states – Alaska, Ohio, Idaho and Tennessee, Smith said. The new nuclear fuel to be produced in Oak Ridge will initially be used in electricity-generating Aurora fast-fission reactors, called Aurora Powerhouses, the first of which is being constructed in Idaho.
Smith said the fuel recycling center in Oak Ridge will be "partially supported by a privately funded investment of $1.68 billion."
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced on Sept. 4, 2025, that the state will give Oklo $13 million from the state's Nuclear Energy Fund to help support the center's construction.
"The Oklo process could reduce hazardous nuclear waste by 90% by turning rejected nuclear materials in waste into new nuclear fuel," Smith said. Leggett said before her talk that Oklo will also build Versatile Isotope Production Reactors (VIPR) elsewhere for its isotope project. VIPR will irradiate legacy radioisotopes separated from nuclear waste with neutrons to convert them into radioisotopes useful for space exploration, industrial testing and nuclear medicine, including cancer treatments.
Oklo is already active in the Oak Ridge community, Smith said.
"Since announcing our project in 2025, we've been actively engaging across Oak Ridge by partnering with schools, workforce programs and community organizations," she stated on one of her slides.
"We are enjoying being involved in the East Tennessee Economic Council, or ETEC, and the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. We are building long-term relationships in addition to promoting project awareness. Oklo is committed to being a consistent, visible presence in this community."
She told the League audience that one of her first experiences here was to meet people at the Wheat Family Reunion "so we could learn about what was there before the Manhattan Project."
Smith and her Oklo colleague Toby Starr toured schools in Anderson County. During Oak Ridge Education Night, they enjoyed watching an Oak Ridge High School robotics team demonstrate the ability of their little robot to "run around picking up basketballs and throwing them at us."
They were also impressed by the community garden planted by the children at the Oak Ridge Schools' Preschool in the Scarboro community. A teacher told them, "If you want to get your kids to eat brussels sprouts, just have them grow the vegetable themselves. They will proudly say, 'I grew that. I'm going to eat it.' They will each eat a brussels sprout, and they just bear it."
Smith said she met with Robin Graham, a League member and chair of the city of Oak Ridge's Environmental Quality Advisory Board. She learned from Graham about people who have worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including those who "have an environmental background, because that's my love and my passion."
Smith, who has past experience evaluating the environmental impacts of major energy projects, enthusiastically described Oklo's commitment to caring for the environment on its Oak Ridge site.
According to her slides, Oklo is using ecological assessments to guide the site's design and mitigation. The company will preserve 50-foot-wide vegetated buffers around the site perimeter. It will prioritize growing native plants and using regionally appropriate landscaping.
Oklo plans to incorporate wildlife-support features to attract pollinators such as birds and bats. It is committed to build natural stormwater systems to protect water quality.
Oklo will preserve and create wildlife habitat by, for example, leaving select logs onsite from the limited tree cutting to decompose, enrich soil health and support a small-scale, tree-log nursery.
Smith told the League audience that instead of taking the logs offsite, Oklo staff will place them along the site perimeter, where the logs will decompose, providing a habitat for microinvertebrae that birds love to eat. The completely decomposed logs will become part of the soil on which groundcover will readily grow.
Finally, Oklo's goal is to minimize the impact of its site on surrounding ecosystems.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge facility to turn nuclear waste into fuel by 2030