Oklo Unveils Partnership with Vertiv. Nuclear Power Meets Data-Center Cooling Systems.

Oklo said it was teaming up with Vertiv, the maker of data-center cooling technology. (Vertiv / Business Wire)

Nuclear start-up Oklo unveiled a partnership with Vertiv Holdings on Tuesday to develop power and cooling systems for artificial-intelligence data centers.

Under the terms of a collaboration agreement, the partners aim to develop systems that leverage heat from an on-site power plant to drive data-center cooling systems. The pilot technology demonstration is planned for Oklo’s first Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory.

Oklo specializes in small modular reactors that produce less energy than traditional large reactors, but are meant to be easier to construct and deploy in response to increasing power demand.

Steam and electricity generated by the company’s power plants will be used to drive advanced thermal management systems in partnership with Vertiv, Oklo told Barron’s.

The result is a product tailored to handle the requirements of AI and high-performance computing workloads.

“A single gram of nuclear fuel contains roughly a million times more energy than a gram of coal or oil,” the company said. “That kind of energy density allows Oklo to generate industrial-scale electricity and usable heat from a compact footprint, with minimal waste and zero carbon emissions.”

Beyond improved efficiency, nuclear has an edge over other clean energy sources in terms of reliability. Nuclear runs at full power more than 92% of the time, versus 74% for geothermal and 35% for wind, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

“That’s a critical feature for data centers, which can’t afford to ramp up and down with the volatility of wind and solar,” Oklo explained. The proposed design also eliminates the need to wait for grid updates or new transmission lines.

Vertiv CEO Giordano Albertazzi spoke to the importance of partnering with alternative energy suppliers to tackle the high power demand of AI factories in a statement to Barron’s.

“This collaboration with Oklo is an opportunity to support the potential of nuclear power for multi-megawatt data centers, enabling higher energy efficiencies, reducing stress on the power grid, and allowing for continued AI acceleration,” Albertazzi wrote.

Oklo anticipates the collaboration will lead to repeatable templates for future projects as it works toward breaking ground on its first nuclear powerhouse. The company said last week that it had finished its pre-application readiness assessment for Phase 1 of its combined license application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The readiness assessment is part of a series of steps that are meant to streamline the process leading up to Oklo’s submission of its final license application, which is slated for this year.

Although the company hasn’t strayed from its target of delivering commercial power by the end of 2027, analysts have mixed opinions on the feasibility of Oklo’s plans. Of 13 analysts polled by FactSet, nine rate the stock at Buy or the equivalent while four rate it at Hold.

Craig-Hallum analyst Eric Stine is one of those on the fence. Last month, Stine downgraded Oklo shares to Hold from Buy, asserting the company’s ambitious regulatory and commercial timelines had attracted “various degrees of skepticism.”

Shares were down 2.1% to $61.09 on Tuesday. The stock has surged 19% this year and increased nearly sevenfold over the past 12 months. Vertiv, meanwhile, fell 2.4%.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com