Oklo (OKLO) CFO, R. Craig Bealmear, joined Trading 360 to discuss their recent U.S. Airforce contract and the company’s financials.

Founded in 2013 by two MIT grads, Oklo is an advanced nuclear technology company. The stock is up over 550% since last year and hit an all-time high of $73.55 earlier this week.

“It almost feels like we have unconstrained demand,” Bealmear says – now Oklo has to get it online. The Department of Energy has granted them land and fuel in Idaho to create their first powerhouse base, aka the campus where their first reactor would be situated. It expects the base to go online in 2027-2028. They are also in negotiations for where to construct their next few powerhouses.

Shares have run up since their last earnings report on May 13, where it reported EPS of -$0.07 and no revenue. It took advantage of the gains and announced a $400 million public share offering last week.

Bealmear assures investors that they are “getting close to putting revenue on the income statement.” To that end, the U.S. Airforce contract – though the value of that deal was not disclosed. The 30-year agreement would have Oklo build and maintain a microreactor in Fairbanks, Alaska.

It should also be noted that the contract is not finalized: the Air Force announced its “notice of intent” this week. Originally, the deal was supposed to go through in 2022 but was delayed by a claim from another bidder (who later went bankrupt).

However, this might have been good news for Oklo, as Reuters reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied them an operating license the same year. Oklo plans to reapply this year, with a decision expected in 2027.

Oklo reactors can run on recycled nuclear waste, giving them an edge against other competitors. Their Aurora reactor can produce “up to 75MWe of electrical power.” The NRC writes that a Megawatt of electricity (MWe) can power approximately 500-900 homes for a year (depending on geographic location).

The ability to recycle is huge – nuclear waste is one of the biggest issues facing the growing industry. It has to be treated to be safe and cannot be allowed to escape containment and irradiate groundwater or nearby workers. Oklo says that today’s reactors “use about 5% of the energy content contained in their fuel.” It is working to take advantage of the other 95%.

As of right now, Oklo states that there is enough energy in the U.S.’s used nuclear fuel to power “the entire country for over 150 years.” Using others’ spent fuel also brings costs down.

Right now, Oklo says it has three project sites, and has “the most regulatory traction of any advanced fission power system to date, targeting first deployment in 2027.”

Fission is the act of splitting an atom into two smaller parts, releasing an enormous amount of heat and radiation. Once it gets going, it can become a chain reaction. This heat is used to boil water to power steam turbines, creating electricity. Bealmear says it can also use this heat for things like de-icing runways for the Air Force.

Unlike nuclear companies we’ve covered before, who are prototyping fuel rods or reactor designs, Oklo says it has “over 400 years of operational experience” for its technology. It uses a liquid-metal-cooled design. Nuclear reactors require constant cooling, either through cycling liquid or air.

Oklo claims that this system is also safer, with tests showing that the reactor can “naturally stabilize and shut itself down without damage” should cooling shut off.

Another facet of their business is radioisotopes. Under their subsidiary, Atomic Alchemy, Oklo is planning to pilot a facility to create isotopes – fuel for the reactors. Bealmear thinks revenue from that business could hit as soon as next year.

An isotope, as we might remember from high school, is variation of an element. The protons and neutrons that make up an atomic nucleus tend to come in the same number. However, an isotope is when an elemental atom has a different number of neutrons, changing its atomic mass. (Proton numbers don’t change – if they did, it would become a different element.)

Some isotopes are unstable, meaning they are prone to decay. A radioisotope, therefore, is a decaying atom that releases radiation. While isotopes can occur naturally, we can create them by bombarding a nucleus with particles. A radioisotope will continue emitting radiation until it decays into something inert – the atomic “half-life.”

Oklo is looking to have a hand in both sides of the nuclear supply/demand chain. It aims to create fuel that it can use itself or sell to others – and when those customers are done, it could take the remnants and recycle them in its own plants. Bealmear says they hope to have that recycling business running within the next decade.

Nuclear energy companies are proliferating as the U.S. craves cheap, dependable power and moves away from fossil fuels. A lot of the appeal of nuclear energy is its “set it and forget it” abilities – once the reactor is built, it should keep humming along for years and years on a single fuel cell. Most of these companies are still seeking approval from the NRC and hope to deploy within the next few years.

Investors must decide who they think will be the winners in the space, either through first-mover advantage, superior technology, or other metrics. Oklo is laying out its case to be the favorite – is the market buying in?

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