By Mackenzie Tatananni

As investors await progress on the commercial front, Oklo is finding ways to secure their trust -- first with a Meta partnership, and now through a collaboration with the biggest name in artificial intelligence.

The nuclear start-up on Thursday unveiled a partnership with Nvidia to use AI infrastructure in modeling and simulations. The work will support nuclear fuel research and development at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oklo said.

CEO Jacob DeWitte described the agreement as a merging of reactor deployment, high-performance computing power, and "world-class fuel and materials science expertise." The start-up works with several federal research centers including Idaho National Laboratory, where it is laying down the foundations for its first commercial nuclear facility, dubbed Aurora.

DeWitte said Thursday's agreement would "significantly accelerate" plutonium-bearing fuel work on Oklo's Pluto reactor, which was selected under the Energy Department's reactor pilot program in May 2025. Oklo has worked with LANL to verify the reactor's design, which recycles nuclear waste into energy, using surplus plutonium from the Cold War era.

The agreement also supports the Genesis Mission, a government initiative at 17 national labs to fast-track new energy solutions using the world's most advanced computing tools, including AI and quantum.

Oklo doesn't plan to build a commercial facility at LANL, but it has conducted ongoing research with the lab. Historically, Los Alamos served as the top-secret heart of the Manhattan Project, where the first atomic bombs were designed and built on an expedited timeline.

In a similar vein, Oklo is attempting to accelerate the approval process for its first nuclear powerhouse through behind-the-scenes work with regulators. The start-up confirmed in March that the Energy Department had approved its safety design agreement for its Aurora powerhouse, describing the development as a meaningful step forward.

Oklo's ambitious target of commercial power by the end of 2027 has drawn plenty of admirers on Wall Street as well as vocal opposition. Oklo's lofty valuation has been a sticking point in the absence of meaningful revenue, and skeptics like Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey have criticized the company's purported connections to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who previously served on Oklo's board.

Still, the start-up is beginning to transition from concept to reality, and this progress hasn't gone unnoticed. Citi Research analyst Vikram Bagri, who rates the stock at Hold, has been incrementally positive around Oklo's recent updates.

Oklo expanded its board earlier this month with the appointment of four independent directors "to strengthen technical, operational, and execution expertise as the company scales," Bagri wrote at the time. "The additions indicate Oklo is strengthening its governance as its shifts from the concept stage toward reactor development," he added.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

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April 23, 2026 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)

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