U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, joined U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty in Oak Ridge on Thursday to celebrate what is becoming a pattern in the Atomic City of major nuclear companies announcing giant investments.
Oklo, a California-based developer of advanced nuclear reactors and fuel recycling, unveiled plans to build a nuclear fuel recycling plant in the first stage of an advanced fuel center that could total $1.68 billion invested and 800 jobs created.
The fuel recycling center would be the first of its kind in the U.S. and would turn used nuclear fuel into fuel for so-called fast reactors like Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse, which is cooled by liquid metal rather than water.
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The company said it was working with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public utility in the U.S., to explore recycling used fuel from its nuclear plants at the Oak Ridge facility. It could also one day sell electricity from its reactors to TVA, which is based in Knoxville and has its largest presence in Chattanooga.