Groves Goes Critical on Private Land

Oklo's Groves reactor reached criticality August 5 on a greenfield private site in Texas, the fifth DOE Pilot reactor to go critical and the first outside a national laboratory.

In context: The Clinch River BWRX-300 hearing closed August 13 with no formal intervenors, leaving the ASLB (Atomic Safety and Licensing Board) initial decision as the last gate before commissioners vote on the first advanced-SMR construction permit. Public comment on the NRC's NEPA streamlining rule closes August 21.

Market signal

▲ News hot

Uranium spot at $88.25/lb (near year-to-date high); FANCO files HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) fuel fabrication plan with NRC

▼ Market cold

UF6 conversion capacity additions remain mid-decade at earliest; commercial HALEU deliveries not until 2029 per Centrus contract; fuel fabrication facilities for advanced reactors still in pre-licensing

Uranium near $90 says buyers believe the demand is coming. The front end that advanced reactors depend on, conversion, enrichment and fabrication, is still two to three years from meeting it.

Sources: Trading Economics (uranium spot, August 19, 2026), GlobeNewswire (FANCO REP docketing)

This week at a glance

Oklo's Groves reactor was the first in the DOE Pilot Program to go critical on a private greenfield site, built in under a year on a commercial supply chain

Oklo logged approximately $1.2 million in first-ever quarterly revenue from early isotope production.
The Kaleidos microreactor began its 1,000-mile road trip to INL's DOME facility August 12, where TRISO fuel from Standard Nuclear is already waiting

Full-power, full-temperature testing with TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) fuel and a capstone 150-hour run targeting Q3 2026; results feed Radiant's NRC license application for its R-50 facility in Oak Ridge.
FANCO's HALEU fuel fabrication regulatory engagement plan was docketed by the NRC on August 17, opening pre-application review for a facility designed to supply both FANCO's own reactor and outside advanced reactor customers

License application expected Q4 2027; the proposed Category II facility would fabricate ceramic uranium dioxide fuel under 10 CFR Part 70 (NRC's fuel cycle facility licensing framework).
DOE awarded $271 million in Civil Nuclear Credits to PG&E for Diablo Canyon Unit 1 on August 14, the program's first disbursement to a California plant

Unit 2 becomes eligible after completion of its 2025 award year audit; NRC extended both units' federal licenses to 2044 and 2045 in April 2026.

ENTEL Nuke Map: a US map with green dots for active reactor sites (the operating fleet plus 2026 criticalities) and gray dots for sites in development, next to a development-pipeline breakdown by stage

Source → live map at entel.jrand.net/nukemap

Stat of the week

$271M

DOE's Civil Nuclear Credit disbursement to PG&E for Diablo Canyon Unit 1, announced August 14, 2026. The CNC program funds economically at-risk nuclear plants to stay online; Unit 2 becomes eligible after a separate audit. Federal money is flowing while California has yet to commit to keeping the plant running past the current decade.

Source: ANS Nuclear Newswire / DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (August 14, 2026)

In depth

Reference: terms in this issue

Isotope test reactor: A low-power reactor built to produce radioisotopes for medical, industrial, or scientific use rather than commercial electricity; Oklo's Groves is an isotope test platform.

Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC): DOE's $6 billion subsidy program that awards competitive payments to economically at-risk commercial nuclear plants to keep them generating power.

HALEU deconversion: Converting HALEU from UF6 gas (the output of enrichment) into solid oxide or metal form suitable for advanced reactor fuel fabrication.

10 CFR Part 70: NRC's licensing framework governing special nuclear material fuel cycle facilities, including fuel fabrication and processing plants, distinct from the Part 50/53 framework for power reactors.

Technology

Oklo Groves: The Pilot Program's Fifth Criticality, First on Private Land

Before: Oklo received DOE startup authorization for the Groves Isotope Test Reactor on July 23 (Issue 13). The Lockhart, Texas site sits on private land and runs a fully commercial supply chain: construction, fuel, and operating programs procured without national lab support. All four prior DOE Pilot reactors operated at INL or under national lab hosting arrangements.

Now: Groves reached first criticality on August 5, per DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, the fifth Pilot Program reactor to go critical this summer. Oklo joins Antares (June 4), Valar (June 18), Deployable Unity (July 1), and Aalo (July 4). The company built and commissioned Groves in less than a year. Oklo also reported approximately $1.2 million in first-ever quarterly revenue in its August earnings release, reflecting early isotope production activity. OKLO shares rose about 10% on August 7 before settling near $43, still about 77% below the 52-week high.

→ Whether the private-land commercial model shapes siting for Oklo's Aurora pipeline

Construction

Kaleidos Makes the Trip: Radiant's Microreactor Heads to INL for Full-Power Testing

Before: Radiant's NRC Part 70 license for its Oak Ridge production facility was accepted in May 2026 (Issue 5). In July, the first TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) fuel from Standard Nuclear arrived at INL's DOME (Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments) facility, clearing the path to full-power testing (Issue 10). The Kaleidos reactor was still completing final fabrication off-site.

Now: The Kaleidos microreactor began its roughly 1,000-mile road trip from El Segundo, California to the DOME on August 12, 2026. Once installed, the reactor will be loaded with the TRISO fuel already on site and begin a progressive testing campaign: full-power, full-temperature operation followed by a capstone 150-hour continuous run without operator intervention. The campaign targets completion by end of Q3 2026. The test data feeds Radiant's NRC license application for its R-50 facility in Oak Ridge. Radiant has also signed an Air Force agreement for a Kaleidos deployment at Buckley Space Force Base by 2028.

→ Whether the Q3 2026 testing timeline holds

Regulatory

FANCO Files HALEU Fabrication Plan: A New Supply Strand Enters the Licensing Queue

Before: FANCO (First American Nuclear Co.) filed an initial REP with the NRC in April 2026 for its EAGL-1 lead-bismuth eutectic-cooled fast SMR (Issue 4 seed). FANCO had not sought a domestic HALEU fuel fabrication license, for its own reactor or for broader advanced reactor supply.

Now: The NRC docketed FANCO's Regulatory Engagement Plan for a proposed Category II HALEU deconversion and fuel fabrication facility on August 17, 2026, under ADAMS accession numbers ML26222A181 and ML26222A177. The facility would fabricate ceramic uranium dioxide fuel initially for the 240 MWe EAGL-1 and potentially supply other advanced reactor developers. Licensing would proceed under 10 CFR Part 70. FANCO had submitted a Letter of Intent on August 6. The company anticipates submitting its full license application in Q4 2027.

→ Whether HALEU offtake agreements follow the REP docketing

Global signal

Spain

Spain extended Almaraz's license to 2030, keeping about 2.0 GWe online past its planned 2027-2028 closure dates, citing energy security. Grid reliability overrode a firm phaseout schedule, the same dynamic now playing out at Diablo Canyon.

Question of the week

“Oklo's Groves reached criticality on private land in under a year and logged first revenue. Is the private-land commercial model the deployment template for advanced reactors, or does the isotope market limit how far it generalizes?

Reply to this email with your take.

Until next Thursday,

Jace Arnold

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Companion tool: fuel.jrand.net. Live UF₆ conversion capacity, by facility.