Assertion Not checkable as stated
DeWitte: Nuclear regulations are ~100 pages versus millions of guidance pages
“So the big thing we saw was we've built this massive inertia of millions of pages Of effectively regulatory guidance is what it's called. Basically recommendations on how to meet the regulations, which minds you are maybe a hundred pages or so. But you've buil…”
Assertion Open · timeframe Apr 2025
DeWitte: Oklo micro-reactors cost between $30M and $40M to build
“Oh, I mean you know, if you put the reactor inside of it, kind of depends a little bit on the exact sighting and how much work needs to go into it, but somewhere between 30 and forty million dollars.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Apr 2027
DeWitte: 15MW Oklo reactors can generate power below 4-5 cents/kWh
“It's a little more expensive, but if you move that to the 15 megawatt size range, then yeah, you can get the prices down to sort of below four, four or five cents kilowatt hour.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: No Plant Applying Directly to the NRC Has Ever Come Online
“Since the NRC was formed no plant that has submitted its initial original application to the NRC has ever come online. All the plants that are operating today submitted their applications, their initially, their initial application, sorry, to the Atomic Energy…”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: Oklo reactors operate up to 20 years on one fuel load
“So fuel, one load of fuel can last you up to 20 years.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: Existing US Nuclear Waste Could Power Country for Over 100 Years
“For over a hundred years.”
Assertion Partly supported
DeWitte: Nuclear requires the least lifecycle materials of any energy source
“When you think about the amount of materials that are required to make energy levelized over its life cycle, nuclear requires the least. So it should be the cheapest and the most sustainable just because it uses the least materials.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Apr 2027
DeWitte: Oklo reactors can achieve over 98% operational uptime
“I mean, you'll turn it off occasionally for servicing different parts of it, but you're talking about a system that's going to be up and operational more than 98% of the time, or at least has the potential to be.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: EBR-II safely shut itself down during 1986 total loss-of-cooling test
“In fact, on April third, 1986, they put it through these phenomenal. Like basically full scale safety system tests where they challenged this thing in, in crazy difficult ways. They ran it at full power. They locked the control rods out, the things that go in …”
Assertion Partly supported
DeWitte: EBR-II produced power at 3¢/kWh and recycled its own waste
“Mind you, it also did these really cool things where it was able to produce power at three cents kilowatt hour. And it recycled its own waste.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: Nuclear power requires 10 to 100 times less land than other energy sources
“By and large, you can use 10 to a 101 hundred times less land to make the energy that you would otherwise get from other sources.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Dec 2050
DeWitte: Nuclear fission systems will power human space exploration by 2050
“So I think that by that timeframe, you're going to see Basically nuclear systems powering, you know, human advancement in space as well.”
Assertion Contradicted
DeWitte: Thorium and Uranium Reserves Could Power Earth for 10B+ Years
“Between thorium and uranium reserves, we could power the planet for well over ten billion years.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: Nuclear Fission Releases 50M Times More Energy Than Fossil Combustion
“When you split an atom, it releases about fifty million times more energy than when you combust, for example, a fossil fuel.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: A Golf Ball of Uranium Can Power a Human Lifetime
“That's why you can take a golf ball of uranium and power your life with it.”
Disclosure
DeWitte: Oklo Reactor Footprint Ranges From a Few Thousand to 15,000 Sq Ft
“So the whole plant is, you know depending on the size range, cause you can go up to a couple, you know, a couple different size points in power output, but on the order of, you know, a few thousand square feet to, you know, 15,000 square feet.”
Assertion Supported
DeWitte: Fast Reactors Efficiently Split Transuranic Actinides in Nuclear Waste
“Fast reactors, you don't slow them down. You let them run as they're born fast, which means they're harder to catch. You need a little more fuel, but because they're going faster, they're carrying more energy and that allows you to much more efficiently Actual…”
