US small modular reactor (SMR) developer Oklo has partnered with Nvidia and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to collaborate on the advancement of nuclear infrastructure, AI-enabled research, and nuclear fuel R&D at the lab in New Mexico.

According to the organizations, the agreement will see them collaborate on a range of efforts, including the use of AI, digital twins, modeling, and simulation to support critical infrastructure development and accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy.

“This agreement brings together reactor deployment, high-performance compute, and world-class fuel and materials science expertise,” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte.

"We believe this will advance our plutonium-bearing fuel work on Oklo’s Pluto reactor, which was selected under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, and help bring resilient power in support of the Genesis Mission.”

The partnership will have three main focus areas, including the development of physics and chemistry-based AI models to support fuel validation and R&D efforts into plutonium-bearing fuels, materials science and fabrication R&D for plutonium-bearing fuels, and finally studies into power generation, grid reliability, and redundancy and stabilization to support the development of AI data centers at the national laboratory.

Projects expected to be completed under the agreement include “integrated full-stack solutions to support nuclear powered AI factories; AI development, including physics and chemistry trained AI models to support nuclear fuel R&D; grid stabilization, reliability, and redundancy studies; materials science efforts focused on plutonium-bearing fuel; and proof of concept work related to the development of a nuclear powered AI factory,” according to the release.

Located in New Mexico, LANL was the home of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. Today, it serves as one of the US Department of Energy’s premier research laboratories for nuclear research.

Oklo is a US-based SMR firm that is currently developing a 75MW modular reactor dubbed the Aurora Powerhouse. It aims to deliver its first reactor by 2027. In August, it was announced as one of 11 advanced nuclear companies to be selected to take part in the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program. It was also selected as part of the DOE’s Advanced Nuclear Fuel Pilot Project.

Oklo has been, by far, the most active SMR company in terms of deal count. The majority of its deals have been signed with data center firms, boasting a pipeline of more than 14GW, most of which are non-binding.

Notable deals include a non-binding Master Power Agreement signed last December with US data center developer Switch to supply up to 12GW of power through 2044, a 500MW deal with Equinix, and a 100MW Letter of Intent with Prometheus Hyperscale. Most recently, it inked a major deal with hyperscale data center firm Meta.

Nvidia has partnered and invested in several nuclear firms over recent years, including participation in funding rounds for advanced nuclear firm TerraPower and nuclear fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). In January, it partnered with CFS and Siemens to build a digital twin of CFS’ fusion reactor to streamline its path to commercial deployment.