FOIA requests

Why were FOIA requests filed for the Groves site?

There is no confirmation that the linked NRC documents on this site actually describe the same VIPR reactor Oklo is building at the Groves site in Lockhart, Texas.

A search for “Groves”, “Lockhart” or “Texas” on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) document site [ADAMS] and Department of Energy (DOE) document sites does not yield any meaningful results. The closest sources refer to a cancelled reactor project of the same namesake “VIPR”. You can confirm this for yourself by browsing the NRC ADAMS link.

Oklo claims that this site will go “critical” by July 4, 2026. To try and understand exactly what that means, FOIA requests have been filed with the NRC and DOE requesting specific documentation on the reactor design and operation, environmental impacts, safety and waste handling procedures at the Groves site. The lack of this kind of information for a nuclear site is unprecedented and highly irregular.

It is also clear that Oklo / Atomic Alchemy does not want certain information about this reactor to be available to the public, as demonstrated in this request to withhold proprietary information from public disclosure [https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2522/ML25225A109.pdf].

This withholding request was granted – which may be why there is no documentation yet – but with the following caveat:

Withholding from public inspection shall not affect the right, if any, of persons properly and directly concerned to inspect the documents.

Answers to safety concerns are of legitimate interest and a direct concern to central Texans. NRC adds:

You also should understand that the NRC may have cause to review this determination in the future, for example, if the scope of a Freedom of Information Act request includes your information.

Both FOIA requests to the NRC and DOE have been acknowledged as of May 8, 2026.