Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) experienced a modest premarket stock gain after the U.S. Department of Energy granted approval for the Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for the company's Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Texas under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. The move advances the project into DOE's final pre-startup review.
The DSA approval represents the Groves facility's final safety basis and follows an earlier DOE sign-off on the Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis. With both safety documents now approved, the project shifts out of the documentation phase and into the remaining pre-startup regulatory sequence, according to the announcement.
Oklo must still clear a DOE readiness review and obtain formal startup approval before the plant may accept and load nuclear fuel. Once those approvals are secured, the facility will be permitted to perform startup testing and to proceed toward first criticality. The company is targeting first criticality for Groves in July 2026.
In remarks accompanying the update, Oklo's co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte characterized Groves as the first advanced reactor project to achieve DSA approval on privately owned land with all fuel, equipment, and systems sourced and delivered by the private sector. DeWitte said the project supports the development of Oklo's isotope business and is intended to strengthen a domestic supply chain for critical isotopes used across medical diagnostics and treatment, advanced manufacturing, scientific research, space exploration, and national security applications.
DeWitte also noted that Groves provides a blueprint for how the United States can accelerate deployment of advanced reactors while preserving a rigorous safety process. The company pointed out that the facility broke ground less than a year ago.
Because the DSA now stands as the facility's final safety basis, the technical and regulatory focus will be on completing DOE's readiness and startup reviews. Only after those steps will the plant be authorized to begin fuel loading and the series of tests that lead to first criticality. Oklo's July 2026 timing remains the company's stated target.