Background: Small modular reactors, explained: who is building them worldwide · Every Nuclear Plant Under Construction in the US in 2026
Current state
| Status | Under construction |
| Design | Aurora powerhouse (SFR, SMR) |
| Net capacity | 75 MWe |
| Country | United States |
| Vendor | Oklo |
| Owner / operator | Oklo |
| Construction start | 2025-09-22 |
| Original COD target | — |
| Current COD estimate | 2028 |
| Schedule slippage | — |
Notes
Power-producing liquid-metal-cooled fast reactor authorized by DOE under the Reactor Pilot Program rather than licensed by the NRC; Oklo says it will keep pursuing NRC licensing for later commercial operation. Construction start is the September 2025 groundbreaking; Oklo's Q2 2026 10-Q describes site preparation at INL as continuing. Capacity is the 75 MWe maximum power level WNN attributes to the NRC's description of the Aurora design, not a confirmed net rating. The COD estimate is Oklo's target of deploying its first powerhouse in 2028 (10-Q). DOE authorization steps after the PDSA were not confirmed complete at verification.
Milestone log
- 2025-08-12 — DOE announced initial Reactor Pilot Program selections; Aurora-INL was one of three Oklo projects selected (source)
- 2025-09-22 — Oklo held the groundbreaking for its first Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory; Kiewit Nuclear Solutions is lead constructor (source)
- 2026-03-18 — DOE Idaho Operations Office approved the Nuclear Safety Design Agreement for Aurora-INL, the first step of the Reactor Pilot Program authorization pathway (WNN report date) (source)
- 2026-06-11 — Oklo announced DOE approval of the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the Aurora-INL powerhouse (source)
The milestone log is append-only: corrections are recorded as new entries, never rewrites. Full history via /api/v1/changes.
NNN coverage
At Aurora-INL
On the Aurora powerhouse design
Sources
- https://oklo.com/newsroom/news-details/2025/Oklo-Breaks-Ground-on-First-Aurora-Powerhouse/default.aspx
- https://oklo.com/newsroom/news-details/2026/U-S--Department-of-Energy-Approves-Preliminary-Documented-Safety-Analysis-for-Aurora-Powerhouse-at-Idaho-National-Laboratory/default.aspx
- https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/oklo-breaks-ground-for-first-aurora-powerhouse
- https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/licensing-of-oklo-pilot-reactor-facilities-advances
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1849056/000162828026054571/oklo-20260630.htm