{"id":50,"date":"2026-05-27T05:39:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=50"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:39:53","slug":"trump-accelerates-plans-to-transfer-cold-war-era-plutonium-to-private-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=50","title":{"rendered":"Trump Accelerates Plans to Transfer Cold War-Era Plutonium to Private Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Department of Energy is reportedly in talks with five companies, including a California-based advanced nuclear technology corporation called Oklo, to offload the government\u2019s Cold War stockpile of plutonium.<\/p>\n

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Oklo has ties to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who respectively chaired and served on the company\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

According to a press release<\/u><\/span>, the \u201cadvanced negotiations\u201d will proceed under the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, a plan backed by President Donald Trump to convert the plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program creates a pathway to use existing surplus material as bridge fuel for advanced reactors to bring more reactors online sooner,\u201d Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte said. \u201cMaterial that has been set aside for disposal can instead be converted into fuel to produce electricity through fission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oklo will work with Newcleo, a European nuclear reactor developer that would \u201cbring relevant fuel experience and potential project capital\u201d to the partnership. Companies like Oklo can repurpose the plutonium in mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel, a blend of depleted uranium with recycled plutonium.<\/p>\n

Uranium is the primary fuel for standard nuclear reactions, but when plutonium is produced in the fission process, the byproduct also contributes to up to a third of the reactor\u2019s total energy. At the conclusion of the Cold War, treaties like START I in 1991 and START II in 1993 imposed dramatic reductions on U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The decrease left the U.S. government with massive amounts of highly toxic plutonium and an unclear off-ramp for disposing of the material.<\/p>\n

Trump planned to make 20 metric tons of its plutonium stockpile available to private companies as fuel for reactors, according to a report from Reuters<\/u><\/span> last year. The federal government was previously engaged in efforts to permanently dispose of the plutonium in a process called \u201cplutonium downblending,\u201d which reduces the overall radioactive concentration of fissile material. Supplying nuclear companies with the plutonium as fuel would do little to decrease the inherent radioactivity of the highly unstable material.<\/p>\n

The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment or provide additional details about any increased safety measures for the potential plutonium transfer.<\/p>\n

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Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns that Trump\u2019s plans to allow energy companies to use the plutonium as fuel could escalate global nuclear tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transfer of weapons-usable plutonium to private industry would increase the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation, including to rogue states or terrorists,\u201d Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. John Garamendi and Rep. Don Beyer wrote in a September 2025 letter<\/u><\/span> after Trump\u2019s plans for the plutonium were reported.<\/p>\n

The congressmen asserted that the U.S. government cannot \u201ceffectively discourage other countries from using plutonium for civil purposes\u201d if the stockpile is distributed to the private sector.<\/p>\n

Oklo is backed by Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The artificial intelligence executive was chair of the nuclear fission company\u2019s board of directors for over a decade and has praised Trump for his business-friendly approach to the presidency. Altman served on Oklo\u2019s board alongside Wright before both of them stepped down in 2025 \u2014 though the energy secretary recused himself to avoid conflict-of-interest concerns before he assumed the top office at the DOE.<\/p>\n

Markey called out Wright for his ties to the company in a separate letter<\/u><\/span> from September 2025 addressed to the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned that your Administration is moving forward with plans to transfer plutonium to Oklo and allow it to build a reprocessing plant not because these proposals make sense for the United States, but because Oklo stands to benefit financially and Secretary Wright is acting in his former company\u2019s interest,\u201d Markey wrote.<\/p>\n

The DOE told Reuters<\/u><\/span> at the time that Wright had complied with all ethics and financial disclosure requirements and had never owned Oklo stock.<\/p>\n

Read more Republican Rep. Mike Flood Jeered at Another Contentious Nebraska Town Hall<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the companies that stands to benefit has deep ties to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Accelerates Plans to Transfer Cold War-Era Plutonium to Private Companies - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=50\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Accelerates Plans to Transfer Cold War-Era Plutonium to Private Companies - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the companies that stands to benefit has deep ties to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=50\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T05:39:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Accelerates Plans to Transfer Cold War-Era Plutonium to Private Companies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T05:39:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/516584d990bf863827c5a19c6040154d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Donald Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50\",\"name\":\"Trump Accelerates Plans to Transfer Cold War-Era Plutonium to Private Companies - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/516584d990bf863827c5a19c6040154d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T05:39:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=50#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/516584d990bf863827c5a19c6040154d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/516584d990bf863827c5a19c6040154d.jpg\",\"width\":1681,\"height\":1121,\"caption\":\"President Donald Trump puts on a hard hat given to him before he speaks at the National Electrical Contractors Association convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. 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