The first recycling installation of private nuclear fuels in America to open in Tennessee

Nuclear energy is among the most promising alternatives to fossil fuels – if we can find a lasting way to take care of unwanted radioactive waste generated by the process. Stakeholders in the public and private sectors have suggested various solutions, but a Tennessee company will be the first to build and operate a recycling installation based in the United States for nuclear fuel.

In a statement last week, Oklo Inc. announced its intention to build the first private installation for recycling nuclear fuel in the United States, to be located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If things take place as expected, the installation will begin to recycle and produce fuel in the early 2030s. It will “unlock” the potential of more than 94,000 metric tonnes of nuclear fuel used throughout the country, the company said. He added that this would produce fuel “equivalent to 1.3 billion of oil barrels, or five times the reserves of Saudi Arabia”.

A nuclear story

Tennessee participation in nuclear energy can be greater than most other states. In 2023, around 48% of electricity in the state of Tennessee came from two nuclear power plants, according to the US Energy Information Administration. This dropped slightly at 32.3% in 2025, although this is always higher than the national average, at 18.1%. The latest state nuclear reactor, Watts Bar Unit 2, got online in 2016.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (VAT), a company belonging to the federal government which provides a huge energy part in Tennessee and the surroundings, explores the options to deploy small modular reactors near Oak Ridge, the city where Oklo’s Fuel Center will be located.

Tangentially, Oak Ridge also welcomes the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, an institution with a deep involvement in nuclear sciences. Some stakeholders have cited this historical relationship by expressing their support for the project, the CEO of VAT, Don Moul, calling Tennessee “the nucleus of the American nuclear rebirth”.

“We know that Tennessee is the ideal location for this project and (OKLO) continues nuclear efforts,” said Stuart C. McWhser, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development of Tennessee, in a press release.

While Whito promises to build the first private nuclear fuel recycling plant in the United States, other commercial companies already exist elsewhere. For example, the Hague site, in the north of France, has been dealing with the nuclear fuel spent from Europe and Japan since 1976. Japan had its own reprocessing plant in the Nuclear Complex in Tokai now disappointed, which has ceased operations permanently in 2014. Its successor, the Rokkasho Nuclear Clearing Facility, was blocked in the limbes for more than 30 years due to the problems security. The United Kingdom had a similar installation, the thermal oxide reprocessing plant, which closed in 2018.

An ambitious and “large -scale” plan

Installation will be the first phase of an “advanced fuel center” in Tennessee, which While calls “a multi-facility campus aimed at supporting recycling and fuel manufacturing”. More specifically, the recycling installation would create metal fuel for other energy power plants such as the Aurora power of Oklo, a rapid reactor currently being examined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (CNRC).

To carry out the plan, the company recruited the local authorities to set up – a strategy that seems to work, given the ambitious Oklo plan to bring $ 1.68 billion in investments and 800 new jobs in Tennessee.

For example, the company said it was planning to recycle the fuel used in VAT installations. If this happens, it would be the first attempt of an American public service company to reuse the fuel used in clean electricity.

“Fuel is the most important factor to put advanced nuclear energy on the market,” said OKLO CEO Jacob Dewitte, in the press release. “By recycling the fuel used on a large scale, we transform waste into gigawatts, reducing costs and establishing a secure American supply chain which will support the deployment of clean, reliable and affordable power.”