05:04 PM EDT, 03/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Oklo ( OKLO ) said late Tuesday that the US Department of Energy has approved a Nuclear Safety Design Agreement for its subsidiary Atomic Alchemy's Groves Isotopes Test Reactor in Texas, marking a key step under the agency's Reactor Pilot Program.

The approval follows the signing of an Other Transaction Agreement in January and advances the project into the next phase, which includes submitting a Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for DOE review, the company said.

Atomic Alchemy is targeting initial "criticality" for the Groves facility by July 4, the company said.