Nuclear energy is among the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels—if we can find a sustainable way to take care of the unwanted, radioactive waste generated by the process. Stakeholders from both the public and private sectors have suggested various solutions, but a Tennessee firm will be the first to actually build and operate a U.S.-based recycling facility for nuclear fuel.
In a statement last week, Oklo Inc. announced plans to build the first private nuclear fuel recycling facility in the U.S., to be located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If things proceed as planned, the facility will start recycling and producing fuel by the early 2030s. It will “unlock” the potential of more than 94,000 metric tons of stored used nuclear fuel around the country, the company said. It added that this would produce fuel “equivalent to 1.3 trillion barrels of oil, or five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.”
A nuclear history
Tennessee’s stake in nuclear power may be larger than most other states. In 2023, about 48% of Tennessee’s in-state electricity came from two nuclear plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That dropped slightly to 32.3% in 2025, although that is still higher than the national average, at 18.1%. The state’s latest nuclear reactor, Watts Bar Unit 2, came online in 2016.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federally owned company that supplies a huge chunk of energy to Tennessee and surrounding areas, is exploring options to deploy small modular reactors near Oak Ridge, the city where Oklo’s fuel center will be located.
Tangentially, Oak Ridge also hosts the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, an institution with deep involvement in nuclear science. Some stakeholders have cited this historical relationship in expressing their support for the project, with TVA CEO Don Moul calling Tennessee “the core of America’s nuclear renaissance.”
“We know Tennessee is the ideal location for this project and [Oklo’s] continued nuclear efforts,” said Stuart C. McWhorter, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development, in a release.
While Oklo promises to build the first private nuclear fuel recycling plant in the U.S., other commercial ventures already exist elsewhere. For example, the La Hague site in northern France has been treating spent nuclear fuel from Europe and Japan since 1976. Japan had its own reprocessing plant within the now-decommissioned Tokai Nuclear complex, which permanently ceased operations in 2014. Its successor, the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facility, has been stuck in limbo for over 30 years due to safety concerns. The United Kingdom had a similar facility, the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, which shut down in 2018.
An ambitious, ‘big-picture’ blueprint
The facility will be the first phase of an “advanced fuel center” in Tennessee, which Oklo calls “a multi-facility campus aimed at supporting recycling and fuel fabrication.” Specifically, the recycling facility would create metal fuel for other energy plants such as Oklo’s Aurora Powerhouse, a fast reactor currently under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
To bring the plan to fruition, the company has recruited local authorities to get on board—a strategy that seems to be working, given Oklo’s ambitious plan to bring up to $1.68 billion in investments and 800 new jobs to Tennessee.
For instance, the company stated it planned to recycle used fuel from TVA facilities. If that happens, it would be the first attempt by a U.S. utility company to repurpose used fuel into clean electricity.
“Fuel is the most important factor in bringing advanced nuclear energy to market,” said Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte in the statement. “By recycling used fuel at scale, we are turning waste into gigawatts, reducing costs, and establishing a secure U.S. supply chain that will support the deployment of clean, reliable, and affordable power.”
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