Oklo’s Groves Test Reactor Hits Criticality, Backed by FSG Electrical Work — BigGo Finance

Facility Solutions Group said Monday it provided electrical, instrumentation, controls, and verification work for Oklo Inc.’s Groves Isotope Test Reactor, which achieved first criticality on August 5, becoming the fifth reactor authorized under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program to reach a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction — and the first to do so on private land.

The low-power test reactor, located in Texas, establishes a foundation for domestic commercial isotope production and demonstrates how advanced nuclear projects can be deployed on accelerated timelines in the United States, according to a statement from FSG, one of the largest commercial electrical contractors in the country.

FSG joined the project in April 2026, with Century Construction serving as general contractor. The company was tasked with electrical work, instrumentation, controls, testing, and verifying the systems that make a reactor function — much of it performed without decades of industry precedent to draw from.

“I’m proud of this team. Century and Oklo trusted FSG with work that was critical to the success of the project,” said Kris Price, construction manager at FSG. “On a first-of-a-kind effort like this, that trust isn’t given lightly. Our team embraced that responsibility from day one.”

Throughout construction and commissioning, FSG, Century Construction, Oklo, and the project engineers worked as a single integrated team, the statement said.

A Milestone for Oklo’s Broader Ambitions

The criticality milestone marks an important step for Oklo (OKLO), which is developing fast fission power plants and building a domestic supply chain for critical isotopes. The company received a DOE start-up authorization for the Groves test reactor in July 2026, followed by the August criticality event — a key demonstration of deployment capabilities that could inform its future commercial facilities.

Oklo was the first company to receive a site-use permit from the DOE for a commercial advanced fission plant and has been awarded fuel from Idaho National Laboratory for its first powerhouse in Idaho.

The company’s ambitions extend well beyond the test reactor. In 2025, Oklo announced plans to build a fuel recycling facility in Tennessee as part of a larger $1.68 billion advanced fuel center project. The recycling facility is designed to recover usable fuel material from used nuclear fuel and fabricate it into fuel for advanced reactors.

CEO Jacob DeWitte has framed the recycling initiative in sweeping terms. “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,” he said.

The scale of the opportunity, as Oklo describes it, is substantial. The company estimates that roughly 94,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel stored across the United States could generate energy equivalent to 1.3 trillion barrels of oil — approximately five times Saudi Arabia’s estimated oil reserves. The DOE itself notes that more than 90% of the potential energy in spent nuclear fuel remains even after it has been used in a conventional reactor.

DeWitte has also argued that Oklo’s recycling process can shorten the material’s half-life from tens of thousands of years to a few hundred years while reducing the volume of material requiring final disposal.

The Gap Between Ambition and Execution

Despite the momentum from the Groves criticality, Oklo’s commercial timeline remains years away. The fuel recycling plant isn’t expected to begin producing metal fuel until the early 2030s, and no groundbreaking date has been set. The company also needs to advance its larger Aurora reactor business through the regulatory and development process.

Oklo does not yet have an operating commercial nuclear power reactor, nor is it close to completing the fuel recycling facility. Wall Street analysts have nevertheless assigned the stock a Moderate Buy rating from consensus estimates, reflecting willingness to underwrite the long-term bet.

The Groves test reactor’s criticality, however, provides tangible evidence of execution capability. As one of the first advanced reactor projects in the nation to reach this milestone on private land, the project offers operating experience that Oklo can carry into its commercial deployments.

For FSG, headquartered in Austin, Texas, the project highlights its ability to deliver skilled electrical and systems work on complex, high-stakes facilities. The company generates annual revenue exceeding $1 billion and operates teams across the United States.