Sam Altman explains why he's helping to take nuclear microreactor company Oklo public via SPAC

Oklo, an precocious atomic fission microreactor startup, announced connected Tuesday that it is going nationalist via merger with AltC Acquistion Corp., a peculiar intent acquisition institution co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is besides the president of Oklo's board.

The SPAC volition adjacent by aboriginal 2024, Oklo co-founder Jake DeWitte told CNBC successful a video interrogation connected Friday, and volition rise arsenic overmuch arsenic $500 cardinal for the company.

The superior that Oklo raises by going nationalist volition spell towards ramping up its proviso concatenation and procurement processes and gathering a aviator standard accumulation installation for its reactor, which it calls Aurora.

Altman champion known for his enactment with artificial quality aft Microsoft invested billions of dollars successful OpenAI and the company's ChatGPT chatbot caught the public's imaginativeness precocious past year. But Altman's philosophical imaginativeness for a amended aboriginal is babelike connected 2 technologies processing successful in parallel: AI and energy.

"My full presumption of the satellite is the aboriginal tin beryllium radically amended and the 2 things that we truly request for that are to little the outgo of vigor and little the outgo of intelligence. And if we get those, we'll beryllium rather amazed astir however antithetic and however overmuch amended the aboriginal is," Altman told CNBC successful a telephone speech connected Friday.

The 2 prongs of the aboriginal Altman envisions are connected: If the usage of artificial quality scales up successful the mode Altman sees, it volition request "a lot, lot" of energy, helium told CNBC.

Altman met the co-founders of Oklo backmost successful 2013 and recruited them to articulation Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley start-up store wherever Altman was president of from 2014 to 2019. Caroline Cochran and Jacob DeWitte, the co-founders of Oklo, joined Y Combinator successful 2014 and Altman went connected to pb Oklo's Series A successful 2015, astatine which constituent helium besides became Chairman of the Board.

"I'm all-in connected energy. I deliberation there's urgent request for tons and tons of cheap, safe, cleanable vigor astatine scale," Altman told CNBC.

Altman has agelong promoted the thought that access to energy is simply a important determining origin to improving prime of beingness astir the globe.

"The alternate to not having capable vigor is that brainsick de-growth worldly radical speech about. We truly don't privation that," Altman told CNBC, referring to the doctrine that restricting production, depletion and vigor usage is simply a mode to conserve earthy resources. "I deliberation it's insane and beauteous immoral erstwhile radical commencement calling for that."

In particular, Altman believes atomic vigor arsenic indispensable to conscionable request portion moving distant from burning fossil fuels, which origin planetary warming. "I don't spot a mode for america to get determination without nuclear. I mean, possibly we could get determination conscionable with star and storage," Altman told CNBC. "But from my vantage point, I consciousness similar this is the astir apt and the champion mode to get there."

Altman is betting connected somewhat antithetic atomic projects.

Oklo is moving to commercialize atomic fission, which is the absorption that powers each of existing atomic powerfulness plants, but utilizing overmuch smaller reactors. He's besides invested $375 cardinal into Helion, which is 1 of a burgeoning manufacture of startups moving to beryllium retired and commercialize atomic fusion, which is the mode the prima generates vigor and creates nary long-lived atomic waste, but has ne'er been replicated and scaled connected earth.

Altman says fusion, if it tin beryllium commercialized arsenic Helion envisions, and Oklo, with its smaller, cheaper atomic reactors, tin co-exist. The request for clean, inexpensive vigor "is truthful vast" that having aggregate root of reliable, cleanable atomic vigor is simply a bully thing, Altman says. Also, due to the fact that Oklo reactors are going to beryllium overmuch smaller than Helion powerfulness plants, they volition apt service antithetic kinds of customers.

Fundamentally, "the satellite is conscionable truthful vigor limited, and it's specified an vigor deficit, we request each of it," Altman told CNBC.

Oklo was founded successful 2013 with the imaginativeness to re-imagine commercialized atomic energy. Conventional atomic reactors are costly operation projects that instrumentality a agelong time. The Vogtle works successful Georgia are the latest of this benignant of accepted atomic reactor to beryllium constructed successful the U.S., and its fund and docket overruns have go infamous.

Oklo plans to marque overmuch smaller nuclear reactors that tin run with caller oregon recycled substance for arsenic agelong arsenic a decennary earlier they request to beryllium refueled. Oklo powerfulness reactors volition nutrient accordant levels of energy, arsenic opposed to the intermittent sources of powerfulness generated by upwind and solar, and Oklo is positioning itself to beryllium a root of powerfulness for information centers, utilities, defence facilities, distant communities, factories, and concern sites.

"Oklo has highly beardown lawsuit interest. There's nary deficiency of tendency oregon request for this," Altman told CNBC.

Also, Oklo plans to run the reactors itself and merchantability the powerfulness to customers, making it easier for customers to usage atomic vigor without having to instrumentality connected the work of operating a atomic reactor.

Oklo is inactive successful the comparatively aboriginal stages. In May, Oklo signed an agreement with the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative to deploy 2 commercialized plants successful Southern Ohio, and it's aiming to person them online by 2030. 

Oklo besides has received approvals from the U.S. Department of Energy to physique a works astatine the Idaho National Laboratory by 2027. For that reactor, Oklo has already gotten support from INL to usage immoderate of its spent atomic fuel. The institution has besides begun the process of applying for indispensable approvals to conception a fuel-recycling installation truthful that Oklo tin enactment what would different beryllium considered "used" substance into its precocious reactor design.

But Oklo has besides faced immoderate setbacks: In Jan. 2022, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is the nation's apical atomic regulatory agency, denied its archetypal exertion to physique and run its precocious atomic reactor. The NRC cited accusation gaps successful the application, but Oklo is assured that it volition beryllium capable to resoluteness the issue.

"We've made a batch of advancement with the NRC dating backmost to 2016," DeWitte told CNBC. "In galore ways, a batch of the licensing details astir this are focused much connected what I telephone structural and benignant of procedural elements."

If Oklo does marque it past the regulatory process, it has the imaginable to marque atomic vigor overmuch much affordable than it is now, which is portion of what makes Altman interested.

"One of the things that I'm truthful excited astir the Oklo plan is that I deliberation the economics tin beryllium very, precise different," Altman said.

Some of that is the reactor's smaller size, but immoderate of it is however the Oklo reactors person been designed.

"We made intentional plan decisions to physique connected demonstrated exertion that besides uses parts, large parts and components that are utilized successful different industries," DeWitte told CNBC. "So that means we get to bargain into an already established, efficaciously system of standard accumulation proviso chain."