Los Alamos Lab, Nvidia and Oklo team up on nuclear fuel for AI data centers

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nvidia and Oklo said they are teaming up to accelerate advanced nuclear fuel development for next-generation AI data centers, putting the county at the center of a federal push to build the energy backbone for artificial intelligence.

Oklo announced the agreement on April 23 and said the effort brings together advanced nuclear reactors, AI models and national laboratory expertise to support critical nuclear infrastructure for the federal government’s Genesis Mission. The collaboration is focused on nuclear fuel validation, AI-driven research and infrastructure studies, and multiple reports say the work will be completed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

For Los Alamos, that matters because the laboratory is not just hosting another research project. It is being positioned as the place where nuclear fuel concepts for AI power systems are tested and checked before they move closer to deployment. That makes the lab part of a chain that could influence future federal spending, laboratory work and supplier opportunities in northern New Mexico if the program expands beyond the current research phase.

The initiative also fits Oklo’s broader plan to pair advanced reactors with high-density AI data centers. The company has said the partnership supports its plutonium fuel work, a detail that ties the Los Alamos effort to one of the hardest technical questions in advanced nuclear: how to validate fuel for small modular reactors that could provide steady power to data centers hungry for round-the-clock electricity.

Oklo’s work with Los Alamos is not starting from scratch. In 2025, the company said it and Los Alamos National Laboratory carried out a multi-day fast-spectrum plutonium criticality experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center in Nevada. Oklo said the tests generated modern benchmark data for its Pluto reactor project, supported work under the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program and advanced its effort to use surplus plutonium as a bridge fuel for advanced reactors.

The local context is more than theoretical. Source New Mexico reported on May 4 that LANL’s nuclear and AI operations require about 1.4 million gallons of water a day, underscoring the strain that expanded AI and energy infrastructure could place on a region already managing tight resource limits. For Los Alamos County, the question is no longer whether AI will need more power. It is whether the lab’s role in proving that power can be supplied by nuclear fuel will bring durable research dollars and policy influence back home.