Thursday, August 6, 2026
Oklo's Groves reactor reaches first criticality in Texas
Oklo's privately financed Groves Isotope Test Reactor in Lockhart, Texas reached first criticality at 9:19 p.m. ET on August 5, less than a year after groundbreaking, achieving a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. It is the fifth reactor to reach criticality under the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program and the first to do so on private land rather than national-lab infrastructure.
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