00;00;00;19 - 00;00;01;28 Unknown So when you think about a nuclear reactor 00;00;01;28 - 00;00;10;19 Unknown it's really important that you do a couple things. You want to make sure it's controlled. So it doesn’t runaway - produce too much heat, get into a problem. To make sure it's cooled so that it's always able to remove the heat. 00;00;10;22 - 00;00;12;10 Unknown You want to make sure everything's contained 00;00;12;18 - 00;00;18;00 Unknown This week on energy in the North, I speak with Jacob DeWitte, the co-founder and CEO of Oklo. 00;00;18;00 - 00;00;23;08 Unknown The vendor selected to develop and build the Micro Reactor project at Eielson Air Force Base. 00;00;23;08 - 00;00;29;07 Unknown The reactor is estimated to produce five megawatts of electricity and 30MW of steam for the base. 00;00;29;07 - 00;00;34;04 Unknown Jacob was in Fairbanks for the ÀÖ»¢Ö±²¥ Defense Forum in August, and I managed to talk to him 00;00;34;04 - 00;00;38;03 Unknown After the summer 2026 Eielson Micro Reactor project, Town Hall 00;00;38;03 - 00;00;42;14 Unknown Safety is a major concern for ÀÖ»¢Ö±²¥ns, and I started the conversation with Jacob 00;00;42;14 - 00;00;43;18 Unknown by asking him 00;00;43;18 - 00;00;44;27 Unknown to describe the fuels 00;00;44;27 - 00;00;47;15 Unknown and the new safety mechanisms in the system. 00;00;47;15 - 00;00;49;14 Unknown Yeah. So the fuel rods are, 00;00;49;14 - 00;00;55;11 Unknown uranium alloys. It's like little slugs of it that are about the size, in diameter of 00;00;55;11 - 00;01;00;15 Unknown adult's pinky. And they fit in fuel rods that are about eight feet or so tall. 00;01;00;15 - 00;01;04;01 Unknown They're put in tubes of stainless steel, of stainless alloy specifically, 00;01;04;01 - 00;01;15;27 Unknown that then is arranged in a hexangonal pattern like a honeycomb. Those are then formed into a bundle of hexagonal pins. And then you have multiple of those bundles. So and then in the honeycomb pattern itself, 00;01;15;27 - 00;01;18;23 Unknown and the coolant flows between those pins because there's space between them. 00;01;18;26 - 00;01;31;15 Unknown And the coolant is liquid metal that runs at relatively high temperatures but is not pressurized and is really good at carrying the heat away from those pins, because what's happening in those pins is neutrons are flowing through them. They're splitting the atoms. They're releasing energy. When that happens, that energy is 00;01;31;15 - 00;01;36;18 Unknown mostly realized as heat in the pins that then conducts outward into the coolant. 00;01;36;21 - 00;01;43;05 Unknown And then the coolant carries the heat up, goes and transfers its. He ultimately boil water, make steam, spin a turbine. Make electricity. 00;01;43;05 - 00;01;46;09 Unknown Wow. It sounds so complex, but also so easy. 00;01;46;09 - 00;01;46;24 Unknown Yeah, 00;01;46;24 - 00;01;49;06 Unknown so. It's got liquid metal, not water. 00;01;49;06 - 00;01;52;07 Unknown Yeah. So liquid metal moves the heat off the fuel pins. 00;01;52;07 - 00;01;56;24 Unknown That liquid metal then transfers its heat through heat exchangers to basically boil water. 00;01;56;24 - 00;01;58;07 Unknown Right. So you basically it's a boiler. 00;01;58;07 - 00;02;06;25 Unknown So very similar then to a conventional steam power plant, just instead of burning something to then have the hot gases 00;02;06;25 - 00;02;12;13 Unknown boiling water, you just have the hot liquid metal as the carrier of the heat from the fuel rods. 00;02;12;13 - 00;02;15;29 Unknown So it's, you know, it is in some way simple and also complex. 00;02;15;28 - 00;02;20;23 Unknown And then the number one question a lot of people are going to ask is how safe is it going to be? 00;02;20;23 - 00;02;22;25 Unknown in the history of nuclear technology, 00;02;22;25 - 00;02;34;12 Unknown when you actually look at it, it is one of, if not the safest source of energy we have. And a lot of it's a testament because we learned as an industry, as a society that, hey, this is a manageable technology, but it needs to be managed. 00;02;34;12 - 00;02;43;17 Unknown And the cool thing then was that was with the prior generation was plenty safe. But these next generation reactors, like what we're doing, are even safer because 00;02;43;17 - 00;02;45;26 Unknown they designed the physics of it, keep it safe into the reactor. 00;02;45;26 - 00;02;47;05 Unknown So when you think about a nuclear reactor 00;02;47;05 - 00;02;55;26 Unknown it's really important that you do a couple things. You want to make sure it's controlled. So it doesn’t runaway - produce too much heat, get into a problem. To make sure it's cooled so that it's always able to remove the heat. 00;02;55;29 - 00;02;57;17 Unknown You want to make sure everything's contained 00;02;57;17 - 00;03;10;06 Unknown and that way everything's out there. If you could, if you're able to control it and cool it, it makes the containing part a lot easier. And so if you put the physics of a system to be self controlling and self cooling by relying on natural phenomenon, 00;03;10;08 - 00;03;13;28 Unknown you can design it to be basically self stabilizing and physics safe. 00;03;13;28 - 00;03;17;13 Unknown there's going to be a reactor built in like 2029. 00;03;17;13 - 00;03;33;08 Unknown So, we're actively building our first reactor in Idaho, which is, similar, a little bit bigger cousin of what we're building out. And, and we'll be we're working to turn that on initially in 2028, and then it'll ramp into full operating modes in 2029. 00;03;33;08 - 00;03;36;14 Unknown When do we get one here at Eielson? 00;03;36;14 - 00;03;45;24 Unknown we're actively working through that timeline, doing all the site characterization, moving into site prepping, construction targeting, turning this on. And, the last half of 2030. 00;03;45;24 - 00;03;51;28 Unknown So testing at first in Idaho, making sure everything works, has safety protocols, everything. 00;03;52;00 - 00;03;54;19 Unknown Carry all those lessons forward here and go from there. Yeah. 00;03;54;19 - 00;04;03;25 Unknown Safety is a big concern for people in Fairbanks. And I also an area what is going to ensure that it's safe. 00;04;03;25 - 00;04;07;12 Unknown Yeah. So I mean one those physics of safety are very important, right. 00;04;07;12 - 00;04;15;25 Unknown Because you can't change gravity. Really. So that helps. And you can't change the fundamental material properties, but also you have a rigorous regulatory oversight that comes, 00;04;15;25 - 00;04;17;17 Unknown from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 00;04;17;17 - 00;04;25;04 Unknown and then for other plants for building from the Department of Energy, all of which have strict regulatory standards that apply to the design, but also the operation, 00;04;25;04 - 00;04;28;14 Unknown and those are there to help ensure that this is a safe system. 00;04;28;18 - 00;04;46;20 Unknown But it's really important to say you have layers of safety, right? You have the layers of safety based fundamentally in the system where it's a physics safe design. But then on top of that, you have these, you know, protocols and procedures and things we operate in because it's an investment for us to keep operating reliably and well, we don't want to lose it. 00;04;46;20 - 00;05;08;15 Unknown Right. It's would not be good because we're putting the money into it and we're making money back from operating it. So we need it to run its full lifetime. And then the other part is then the regulatory oversight that comes externally that we have to comply with. And then there's even industrial standards from an like an industrial level that just layer even higher standards on top of the regulatory standards for operational excellence. 00;05;08;15 - 00;05;20;16 Unknown Jacob DeWitte is the co-founder and CEO of Oklo. And I'm Amanda Byrd, chief storyteller for the ÀÖ»¢Ö±²¥ Center for Energy and Power. Find this story and more at uaf.edu/acep 00;05;20;16 - 00;05;22;02 Unknown and follow us on social media.