Siemens Vitality could also be poised to change into an important gear and consulting accomplice for Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse, a liquid metal-cooled quick nuclear reactor.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) Oklo unveiled on Dec. 19 designates Siemens Vitality to change into Oklo’s probably most popular provider for the rotating gear within the standard island of the Aurora powerhouse, together with its steam turbine turbines. Oklo famous the settlement would additionally place Siemens Vitality to “present consulting to assist” the design and integration of the powerhouse’s standard island.
For Oklo, the settlement marks a strategic partnership that enables the corporate to “safe an environment friendly, dependable, and scalable provide chain for changing that warmth into energy in our Oklo Aurora powerhouses,” mentioned Alex Renner, senior director of Product at Oklo, in an announcement.
Oklo’s Aurora Powerhouse is a vertically oriented compact passive fast-spectrum reactor derived from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) that makes use of liquid metallic as a coolant. The corporate not too long ago uprated its design’s capability choices to fifteen MWe and 100 MWe. The compact quick reactor makes use of a high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) metallic uranium-zirconium gas enriched to about 19%.
Creating a well-established and dependable provide chain is essential for deployment scale-up and reliability of Oklo’s energy vegetation, the corporate added. “Most significantly, this partnership accelerates the commercialization of Oklo’s superior fission vitality options, addressing the worldwide want for clear, dependable, and reasonably priced vitality sources,” it mentioned.
A Nuclear Legacy
The potential contract indicators new momentum for Siemens Vitality’s foray into superior nuclear energy. Lengthy earlier than Siemens AG spun off its gasoline and energy enterprise in 2020, forming Siemens Vitality, Siemens AG was a full-range nuclear energy era provider with broad nuclear gas expertise. Underneath its 1969-founded Kraftwerk Union enterprise (which was finally reintegrated into Siemens in 1987), Siemens constructed Germany’s 17 nuclear energy vegetation and provided reactors to Argentina, Austria, and Brazil. In 2001, Siemens merged its nuclear actions with Framatome (to kind Framatome ANP, later AREVA), however in 2009, Siemens introduced it could promote its 34% in AREVA.
In 2011, influenced partly by the nuclear downturn after the Fukushima accident, Siemens AG totally withdrew from nuclear plant constructing and financing. Nevertheless, the corporate continued to make standard steam generators and different standard components, a enterprise now housed at Siemens Vitality. Right this moment, Siemens Vitality has greater than 60,000 steam generators worldwide.
Whereas Siemens Vitality confirmed its nuclear technique has remained unchanged since 2009, Siemens Vitality has acknowledged nuclear’s vital position in future decarbonized energy methods. The corporate’s annual report, issued on Dec. 6, means that in accordance with the European Union’s (EU) taxonomy guidelines, the corporate is actively enterprise, funding, or is engaged in analysis and improvement of “modern electrical energy era services that produce vitality from nuclear processes with minimal waste from the gas cycle. The annual report additionally suggests it carries out, funds, or has exposures to constructing and working new and current nuclear installations.
Siemens Vitality’s current offers within the superior nuclear house embody a November 2021 contract with Terrestrial Vitality, developer of the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR), for the manufacture and provide of steam generators and different balance-of-plant gear, comparable to transformers, switchgear, and motor drive methods, for the IMSR.
“The clear energy generated by superior nuclear is likely one of the key steps to reaching a web zero future and Siemens Vitality’s thermal vitality elements and companies complement the powerhouses being developed by Oklo,” mentioned Tobias Panse, senior vice chairman of Industrial Steam Generators and Mills with Siemens Vitality, on Tuesday. “Working with Oklo as a most popular provider will carry us nearer to superior nuclear deployments and our net-zero targets.”
A Deliberate Design Philosophy
Oklo, notably, already has an settlement with Idaho Nationwide Laboratory (INL) to exhibit down-blended HALEU in a commercial-scale Aurora reactor inside a 2026 or 2027 timeframe, and it’s looking for licensing for the Idaho Falls undertaking. The corporate can be spearheading the event of the second and third business 15-MWe Aurora Powerhouse reactors, that are deliberate on a land parcel in Piketon, Ohio.
The corporate has additionally trailblazed on licensing, although these efforts have been difficult. In March 2020, Oklo submitted the first-ever mixed license software (COLA) to the NRC for a complicated non-light water reactor (LWR) for the INL undertaking. Whereas NRC employees in January denied the applying “with out prejudice,” Oklo, in September 2022, formally relaunched the licensing effort with the submittal of a licensing undertaking plan.
In August 2023, POWER reported that the U.S. Air Pressure tentatively chosen Oklo, issuing a Discover of Intent for its first nuclear microreactor deliberate for Eielson Air Pressure Base in Alaska to Oklo. However in September, the Air Pressure issued a Discover of Rescission “to provide additional consideration to the company’s obligations” below the governmental acquisition guidelines.
Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte advised POWER that the motion doesn’t represent an outright “rescission of the contract as a result of there’s no contract but.” A part of the Discover of Intent award “is to kick off contract negotiations, and a part of that course of typically entails issues the place the Discover of Intent, due to federal acquisition guidelines and necessities, are withdrawn and up to date,” he mentioned.
The Air Pressure stays “fairly constant that they see this as a really thrilling, crucial a part of what they’re doing,” DeWitte mentioned. “However it additionally contains some issues which might be somewhat new, and it’s received some pathfinder parts,” he famous. Whereas the setback poses a chance “that there’s going to be some extra delays,” the chance “in the end represents a variety of urge for food for much more tasks from different parts within the Protection Division,” he mentioned.
Oklo’s tasks in Idaho and Ohio are progressing “fairly positively” DeWitte famous. “Structurally, we’ve deliberately constructed a enterprise that has a considerably differentiated enterprise mannequin and method that lets you separate a variety of issues,” he mentioned. That facet is rooted in Oklo’s total design philosophy, which has focused the “lengthy sport,” he mentioned.
“On the finish of the day, we’ve tried to concentrate on fixing from the bottom up about the way to do some stuff in a different way,” he mentioned. “There’s a variety of speak about innovation that’s been fairly prevalent within the nuclear trade for the final 10 years and actually gotten [more prevalent], particularly within the latter a part of the final decade going into this one. I believe that’s actually thrilling,” he mentioned. “However it was sort of … tunnel-vision centered on expertise alone. That’s a part of it, however [it also includes] enterprise mannequin, financing mannequin, it’s go-to market methods, it’s regulatory methods. All of that’s actually necessary,” he mentioned. “And now I believe we’re beginning to see the worth of why that differentiation is necessary.”
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior affiliate editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
