Update (1030ET): It's one of those days. OKLO has given back all its gains from the pre-market ramp and is now unchanged...
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As we detailed earlier, Sam Altman-backed nuclear startup Oklo is the latest name to benefit from the growing consensus shift to nuclear power.
On Wednesday the company announced a framework agreement with data center operator Switch where both companies have signed a non-binding Master Power Agreement to deploy 12 gigawatts of Oklo Aurora powerhouse projects through 2044, according to an Oklo Press Release.
Shares were up by more than 13% in the pre-market session:
...as short interest in the name remains near its highest levels of the year:
The release says under the agreement "Oklo will develop, construct, and operate powerhouses to provide power to Switch across the United States through a series of power purchase agreements" and that the relationship will "help accelerate Oklo’s early powerhouse deployments and also position the Company to scale in response to a growing demand pipeline" over several decades.
Rob Roy, Founder and CEO of Switch commented: “The relationship with Oklo underscores our commitment to deploying advanced nuclear power at a transformative scale for our data centers, further enhancing our offerings of one of the world’s most advanced data center infrastructures to current and future Switch clients.”
"By utilizing Oklo’s powerhouses, we aim to ensure that Switch remains the leader in data center sustainability while supporting our vision of energy abundance,” he added.
Jacob DeWitte, Co-Founder and CEO of Oklo added: “We are excited to collaborate with Switch on this historic agreement. Rob Roy and the Switch team share the vision we have for nuclear energy’s role in powering artificial intelligence and providing the world with energy abundance."
He continued: "Oklo expects to benefit enormously from Switch’s record of turning visions into reality. The lifespan of this Master Agreement will allow us to iterate and evolve with Switch, from development to deployment to scaling. We believe that working with Switch will not only accelerate our early powerhouses but also accelerate our ability to scale by demonstrating customer demand for decades to come.”
"Since January 2016, all Switch data centers have been powered by 100% renewable energy, nearly 984 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually," the release says, helping make our long-held case here on Zero Hedge that nuclear will play a key role in solving the 'green' energy push.
Nuclear is back. Recall, just days ago we wrote that Japan was restarting the 820 MW No. 2 reactor at its Shimane plant, shut down since January 2012, raising the number of operational reactors in the country to 14.
About a week before that, Meta became the latest tech giant to embrace nuclear power with open arms.
We noted that the tech giant had issued a sweeping "request for proposals" (RFP) aimed at identifying developers capable of bringing nuclear reactors online by the early 2030s to support its energy-intensive data centers and surrounding communities.
Axios wrote that Meta's RFP targets an ambitious pipeline of new generation capacity ranging from one to four gigawatts. The company seeks partnerships with entities that can streamline the entire lifecycle of nuclear projects—from site selection and permitting to design, construction, and operation.
And just earlier this month we published a note from OilPrice.com asking whether or not the world has finally overcome the Chernobyl Disaster. It noted what we have been predicting for years: despite past challenges, there is a growing global interest in nuclear power as a key component of a sustainable energy future.
