The U.S. Department of Energy said on May 26 that it has chosen five companies to begin advanced talks on using surplus plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads as fuel for next-generation reactors.
In May 2025, President Donald Trump ordered a halt to much of a program diluting and disposing of surplus plutonium, requiring instead that it be provided as a fuel for advanced nuclear technologies.
Oklo, a nuclear startup, said it will partner with European firm Newcleo to develop the fuel. The other selected companies are Exodys Energy, SHINE Technologies, Standard Nuclear, and Flibe Energy.
“This program creates a pathway to use existing surplus material as bridge fuel for advanced reactors to bring more reactors online sooner,” Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte said in a statement. “Material that has been set aside for disposal can instead be converted into fuel to produce electricity through fission.”…