--- description: Find out why Oklo Aurora Powerhouse is one of the best inventions of 2023 title: Oklo Aurora Powerhouse: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ce442090feaed56/698a419486f68eab5b6f2e73/best-inventions-2023-Oklo-Aurora-Powerhouse.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # Hope for the Nuclear Movement Oklo Aurora Powerhouse by [Alejandro de la Garza](/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/) ## Alejandro de la Garza Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  A new generation of startups is trying to bring nuclear energy into the 21st century, developing smaller reactors that they say could be safer than old designs thanks to features like lower operating pressures, and cheaper, too, since they could theoretically be mass-produced. Oklo’s tiny reactor, the Aurora Powerhouse—which would be about 60 times smaller than a typical nuclear facility—is one of the farthest along, though the company ran into a [regulatory roadblock](https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/nuclear/nuclear-startup-oklo-gets-thumbs-down-from-regulators-what-does-this-mean-for-next-gen-nuclear "undefined") in the U.S. early last year. Oklo recently signed a preliminary deal with the U.S. Air Force to build a reactor to power a base in Alaska. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6327656/oklo-aurora-powerhouse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6327656/oklo-aurora-powerhouse/"},"headline":"Hope for the Nuclear Movement","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:24:30.625Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6327656/oklo-aurora-powerhouse/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ce442090feaed56/698a419486f68eab5b6f2e73/best-inventions-2023-Oklo-Aurora-Powerhouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"creator":"Alejandro de la Garza","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ce442090feaed56/698a419486f68eab5b6f2e73/best-inventions-2023-Oklo-Aurora-Powerhouse.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6327656/oklo-aurora-powerhouse/","name":"Hope for the Nuclear Movement"}}]}] ```