Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) CEO Jacob DeWitte said Thursday that nuclear energy is the key to humanity’s next leap beyond Earth, telling CNBC’s “The Exchange” that reactors will underpin virtually every ambitious mission planned for space in the coming decades.
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Everything Cool Needs Nuclear
When asked if goals for nuclear-powered space exploration were far-fetched, DeWitte argued nuclear power is not a speculative technology for space — it is a proven one that is finally being scaled.
“We work with nuclear power to enable everything that we do that’s cool in space,” DeWitte said.
The Oklo chief said nuclear energy will be required for propulsion, survival and day-to-day operations once missions move beyond low Earth orbit.
Traveling deeper into space and landing on the moon will demand dense, reliable power that solar simply cannot provide during long lunar nights or in the outer solar system.
“Everything that’s cool in space needs nuclear,” DeWitte said, pointing to crewed lunar bases, deep-space probes and surface operations as mission profiles that hinge on compact fission systems.
From Moon Bases To Data Centers
The Sam Altman-backed company is building out not only its Aurora reactor design but also the surrounding ecosystem, including parts and materials, fuel fabrication and the production of isotopes that space missions will depend on.
A 2028 timeline for nuclear power in space is “doable,” DeWitte said, provided the industry continues unleashing supply chain and production capability.
That window aligns with NASA and Department of Defense goals for surface reactors on the moon and advanced propulsion demonstrations.
The CEO also tied the space push back to Oklo’s terrestrial business. He reiterated that powering hyperscale data centers with Aurora reactors remains on track for the early 2030s, a market tailwind driven by surging AI power demand.
Oklo has already announced plans to develop a 1.2-gigawatt nuclear campus in Ohio as part of a broader deal with Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and it broke ground at Idaho National Laboratory last year on its first commercial reactor.
DeWitte projected that wherever power density and reliability matter most — on a data center campus, a military base or the lunar surface — nuclear power wins.
Photo: Sergey Nivens / Shutterstock
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