--- title: "Oklo sends Meta's prepayments to Centrus for fuel due in 2029, with no binding Meta power contract" description: "Oklo signed definitive HALEU contracts with Centrus on November 12, with Meta's prepayment funding fuel that arrives in 2029. The cash flows to the enrichment plant, not the reactor maker, and the numbers that decide Oklo, a plant cost and a binding power contract, are still missing." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Power" published: 2026-11-12T18:22:30.218Z modified: 2026-11-12T18:22:30.218Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/oklo-sends-meta-s-prepayments-to-centrus-for-fuel-due-in-2029-with-no-binding-meta-power-contract language: en keywords: "Oklo, Centrus Energy, Nuclear Power, Advanced Nuclear, Meta" --- # Oklo sends Meta's prepayments to Centrus for fuel due in 2029, with no binding Meta power contract > Oklo signed definitive HALEU contracts with Centrus on November 12, with Meta's prepayment funding fuel that arrives in 2029. The cash flows to the enrichment plant, not the reactor maker, and the numbers that decide Oklo, a plant cost and a binding power contract, are still missing. [Oklo](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/oklo) turned [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta)'s money into a fuel contract on November 12, and the money did not stay with Oklo [1][2]. The advanced-nuclear developer signed definitive, multi-year contracts with [Centrus Energy](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/centrus-energy) for high-assay low-enriched uranium, the fuel its Aurora fast reactors need, with [prepayments from Oklo](https://theinference.org/article/meta-s-first-oklo-payment-reached-centrus-on-november-2-but-the-fuel-ships-no-earlier-than-2029) funding new enrichment capacity at Centrus' Pike County, Ohio plant and first deliveries only in 2029 [1][2]. Read this as supply-chain progress, not demand: nothing in [the filings](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065059/000162828026073175/0001628280-26-073175-index.htm) says a binding power contract with Meta now exists, and that is the link that still decides whether Oklo gets built. ## Meta's prepayment stops at the enrichment plant Trace the cash. Meta agreed in January to prepay for electricity from Oklo's planned 1.2 GW Ohio campus, with the payment tied to project progress [5]. That cash sits in Oklo, which held $3.13 billion of cash and securities at the end of September, a balance that grew only because Oklo sold $2.3 billion of stock in nine months [3]. Now part of it moves out again, as prepayments to a centrifuge plant, for fuel Oklo cannot burn before 2029 [1]. The volume covers up to five Auroras; the disclosed scope is fuel, not customers [1]. *Chart: **Oklo's cash jumped on a share sale in early 2026 and has not grown since** Line chart of Oklo's cash and cash equivalents by quarter from June 2024 to September 2026, rising from $0.09 billion to $1.59 billion in the March 2026 quarter and holding near $1.6 billion since.* *Cash and cash equivalents at quarter end, which exclude marketable securities; the $3.13 billion Oklo reported at the end of September counts both. The balance rose as Oklo sold shares, not from operations, and has been flat near $1.6 billion since March. Source: Oklo quarterly SEC filings [7]. [6]* ## Centrus books the demand, Oklo carries the risk Centrus is the clearer beneficiary. It now counts $5.4 billion of customer contracts and commitments against the new capacity, and Oklo's prepayments [help fund a buildout](https://theinference.org/article/centrus-energy-shipped-its-first-new-centrifuge-early-the-560-million-buildout-faces-november-5-earnings) whose risk now sits partly on Oklo's balance sheet [1][2]. For a supplier, prepaid demand is the best kind. ## The plant cost and the prepayment amount are still undisclosed How much Oklo prepaid is not [in the release](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/oklo-centrus-secure-fuel-supply-123000411.html). Neither is the cost of a single Aurora plant, which Oklo has never given, with the fiscal-year report expected in March the next chance to get one [3][4]. Analysts model about $6.3 billion of free-cash burn from 2026 through 2030, roughly twice the cash on hand, and at $5.1 billion of market value investors are paying about $2 billion above net cash for a company with 2028 consensus revenue of $39 million [3][4]. Craig-Hallum [halved its target to $27](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/craig-hallum-just-cut-oklo-192029054.html) on November 9 for exactly this reason [3]. The stock fell on the news [1]. *Chart: **Oklo's cash use has moved from overhead to capital spending: $154M in one quarter** Column chart of Oklo's quarterly capital spending and operating cash used, in millions of dollars, from the December 2024 quarter to the September 2026 quarter; capex rises from nothing to $154 million while operating cash used stays between $12 million and $48 million.* *Capital spending and operating cash used, by quarter, in millions of dollars; cash outflows are shown as positive. Oklo has never disclosed the cost of one Aurora plant, which is what this spending is building. Source: Oklo quarterly SEC filings [7]. [6]* The judgment: fuel in 2029 is a real, necessary hop, and the builders funding enrichment capacity today deserve the work. But until a binding Meta contract or an Idaho plant cost appears, every announcement moves cash out of a pile that already covers only half the projected burn. ## Takeaway Oklo's Centrus contracts lock up fuel for up to five Auroras, but the cash leaves Oklo for the enrichment plant, and the two numbers that decide the stock, an Aurora plant cost and a binding Meta power contract, are still undisclosed. ## Sources 1. [Business Wire via Yahoo Finance, "Oklo, Centrus Secure Fuel Supply for Aurora Powerhouse Deployment in Ohio," 12 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/oklo-centrus-secure-fuel-supply-123000411.html) 2. [SEC EDGAR, Centrus Energy Corp. Form 8-K, filed 12 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065059/000162828026073175/0001628280-26-073175-index.htm) 3. [Yahoo Finance, "Craig-Hallum Just Cut Its Oklo Target From $53 to $27 After a Better-Than-Expected Quarter," 11 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/craig-hallum-just-cut-oklo-192029054.html) 4. [Foreign Policy Journal, "Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) Faces A $6.3 Billion Funding Gap Even After Beating Quarterly Estimates," 12 November 2026](https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2026/11/12/oklo-nyse-oklo-faces-a-6-3-billion-funding-gap-even-after-beating-quarterly-estimates/) 5. [International Business Times, "Oklo Stock Rockets 20% After Meta's Historic Nuclear Power Deal To Fuel AI Data Centres," 9 January 2026](https://www.ibtimes.com/oklo-stock-jumps-20-metas-120-billion-nuclear-gamble-powers-ai-ambitions-5-million-homes-3794924) 6. [Oklo, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 12 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001849056) --- Oklo sends Meta's prepayments to Centrus for fuel due in 2029, with no binding Meta power contract — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/oklo-sends-meta-s-prepayments-to-centrus-for-fuel-due-in-2029-with-no-binding-meta-power-contract