Oklo has signed a strategic agreement with US Forged Rings to reserve US manufacturing capacity for the large components of its Aurora reactors. First deliveries of finished parts are expected from 2030.
The deal covers capacity at the industrial campus that US Forged Rings plans to build in Hertford County, North Carolina. The agreement aims to secure capacity through 2035 and includes expansion options. The components in question are large stainless steel parts, including reactor vessels, heads and support structures. According to the company’s plans, the campus will bring melting, forging, ring rolling, heat treatment, machining, fabrication and inspection together on a single site.
The move addresses a practical problem. As Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte explained, building projects repeatably requires fuel, manufacturing capacity, suppliers and infrastructure. Many of the largest parts for nuclear reactors are currently sourced from abroad, as the CEO of US Forged Rings points out. Booking capacity years in advance is meant to avoid a bottleneck as the Aurora fleet grows. Components of this size pose significant manufacturing and logistics challenges.
The agreement is separate from the procurement, manufacturing and construction work already under way for the first Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory. Startup for that plant is indicated for between 2028 and 2029. The announcement came alongside Oklo’s third-quarter 2026 results. According to Investing.com, Oklo shares rose 12.8% in pre-market trading after the results were published. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
For a company developing fission reactors ranging from 15 to 75 megawatts electric, the industrial supply chain matters as much as the design. If the Hertford County campus is completed and qualified on schedule, Oklo will have a domestic source of heavy components for units following the first. For US advanced nuclear, it is a step toward series production.
