Run the Numbers · Oct 22, 2026 · 33m · 25m saved
With Craig Bealmear, CFO of Oklo
Craig Bealmear, CFO of Oklo, told CJ Gustafson on Run the Numbers that the nuclear-power company has raised roughly $3.3 billion since its 2024 de-SPAC listing — before its first powerhouse is even due to go live, in 2028.
Most CFOs spend their careers trying to generate demand. Craig says Oklo has the opposite problem: building enough supply to match demand that is already unconstrained.
"In this business, I don't go to bed worried about demand. It's a little bit like we've got unconstrained demand." — Craig Bealmear
Craig spent 28 years at BP before becoming Oklo's entire finance department when he joined in August 2023, took the company public nine months later, and has since lived through one of the industry's highest-profile crises as a finance leader during BP's Deepwater Horizon spill.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 33 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 5 takeaways that matter.
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Key Takeaways
Oklo's demand problem is the opposite of a typical CFO's — unconstrained demand for nuclear power, gated by six factors instead
Two of the six — the regulatory pathway and fuel availability — are nuclear-specific; supply chain, construction capability, grid interconnection and balance-sheet capital are not
Oklo raises the capital before it announces what it will build, having already pulled in roughly $3.3 billion
About $300 million from its de-SPAC, another $3 billion since, deliberately ahead of naming projects
A bare lot in Texas went from dirt to a critical nuclear reaction in 11 months
The Lockhart, Texas site had "nothing on it except trees and dirt and rocks" on Labor Day 2025
Craig's hiring rule: he only hires people better at their job than he is
His leadership team forecasts headcount eight quarters out, every quarter
Hiding a mess hands the narrative to someone else to interpret
An analyst praised Oklo for disclosing a surprise earnout-share trigger plainly instead of downplaying it
BP was burning $25 million a day in cleanup costs while its Gulf of Mexico operations sat shut down
Leading through that crisis taught Craig that a leader's tone comes back amplified
1. 28 Years At BP, Then Oklo
Craig Bealmear, CFO of Oklo, described what the company actually does, live at Brex Mode in Chicago on Run the Numbers. He spent 28 years at BP, mostly in downstream refining and marketing. An investment bank that had taken his previous employer public then called him about Oklo, which was going public through a de-SPAC and needed a CFO.
Oklo builds, owns and operates nuclear "powerhouses," not just reactors
"Oklo is a nuclear power company. We have an integrated platform. We are building, owning, and operating powerhouses." — Craig Bealmear
Oklo's first powerhouse, in Idaho, uses liquid-metal sodium fast reactor technology. Craig joined as the entire finance organization on August 1, 2023, took Oklo public in May 2024, and said the finance team will hit roughly 20 people by the end of this month.
Oklo backward-integrated into fuel because regulation and fuel supply are nuclear's bottleneck
Craig said the rate-limiting step to selling nuclear power comes down to two things.
"It's regulatory approval and fuel availability." — Craig Bealmear
That backward integration into fuel fabrication and recycling also turned Oklo into a byproduct radioisotope producer, now selling small commercial volumes out of an Idaho Falls lab.
