DeWitte: No Plant Applying Directly to the NRC Has Ever Come Online
Jake DeWitt · Oklo's Amazing Small Reactor That Can Reuse Nuclear Waste · Joe Lonsdale · Apr 6, 2022 · at 36:13
Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte discusses regulatory hurdles with Joe Lonsdale following the NRC's denial of Oklo's custom reactor application.
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“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 Commission.”
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More from Jake DeWitt
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…”
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.”
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.”
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.”
DeWitte: Existing US Nuclear Waste Could Power Country for Over 100 Years
“For over a hundred years.”
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.”