STATE OF THE LABORATORY 1991--STRENGTHENING R&D
This article also appears in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Review (Vol. 25, No. 2), a quarterly research and development
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As I look back on 1991 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, some
famous quotations come to mind. The first is the ancient Chinese
curse, "May you live in interesting times." The second, from
Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, is, "It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times." These quotations certainly hit
the mark for this past year.
I suppose that if we had invented a new Chinese calendar, 1991
would be "the Year of the Frog" because of the media attention we
received when some frogs left a contaminated ORNL pond and, after
being run over by cars, were found to be slightly radioactive. By
the same token, 1990 was the Year of the Tiger because of the
Department of Energy's Tiger Team assessment to determine whether
ORNL was in compliance with environmental, safety, and health
(ES&H) regulations.
Because peace broke out all over the world, 1991 qualified for a
"best-of-times" rating. But I suspect that some of our friends and
colleagues in the former Soviet Union may have regarded 1991 as the
worst of times. The U.S. economy doesn't seem to be in a favorable
state either. We have a deficit and a foreign trade imbalance, and
we certainly have an unemployment rate that is higher than
desirable. The U.S. government is now under a great deal of
pressure to both control spending and support projects in
environmental restoration and waste management that a few years ago
wouldn't even have been considered.
I want to remind you of some of the events that may be responsible
for our current situation. Because these events may color our
attitude, we should examine them and perhaps even adjust our
thinking about our situation so that we are prepared to strengthen
research and development (R&D) at the Laboratory and in this
community.
Many of you remember--some perhaps fondly--the U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC). This administratively lean and technically rich
organization employed many scientists and engineers in key
management positions. For some of its years, it even had a Nobel
Prize-winning chemist, Glenn Seaborg, as its chairman.
The AEC had a clear mission to produce nuclear weapons, enrich
uranium, do fundamental research in physical and life sciences, and
advance the cause of nuclear power. To meet its mission, the AEC
used industry, universities, and its own facilities. It performed
its mission in a way that seems almost pastoral compared with
today's mode of operation.
The AEC had many ups and downs. For example, a test ban in the late
1950s resulted in a substantial cutback of activities. However, our
stable, reliable enemies in the former Soviet Union began firing
off a bunch of weapons at their test site, so the AEC's weapons
production activities picked up again. In the late 1960s, the AEC
fusion program enjoyed a burst of activity because of the interest
in conducting fusion experiments on tokamaks (conceived by the
Soviets), and ORNL benefited by being one of the first laboratories
to build and operate a tokamak outside the Soviet Union. Those were
really exciting, fulfilling times when the employees of the AEC and
its contractors thought their work was important to the nation's
survival. We had no doubt, uncertainty, or anxiety about what we
were doing.
When I worked for the AEC from 1973 to 1975, Americans began
experiencing lines at the gasoline pumps because of shortages of
imported oil--the so-called energy crisis. Dixy Lee Ray, AEC
chairman at that time, convened an AEC group and asked it to
determine ways to make the United States less dependent on oil
imported from unstable countries; as a result, the AEC issued a
report generally known as the "Ten Billion Exercise." Some of its
proposed elements for making the United States energy independent
actually were implemented.
BUREAUCRATIC ENRICHMENT
For the AEC, the chief issue of the day was not the energy crisis.
Rather, it was the concern that people had over the AEC's dual role
as both promoter and regulator of civilian nuclear power. That
concern resulted in considerable pressure to break up the AEC, and,
at the beginning of 1976, it was divided into the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development
Administration (ERDA). The creation of two agencies from one is
important because it started a process I call bureaucratic
enrichment.
Bureaucratic enrichment profoundly affected us all. Suddenly,
nonnuclear and other programs began to sprout up everywhere. The
weapons laboratories began experiencing severe cutbacks and
considerable uncertainty, but the ERDA programs were stable.
However, as the political winds shifted in Washington, ERDA was
replaced by the Department of Energy in 1978. James Schlesinger, a
former AEC chairman, became the first Secretary of Energy, and
bureaucratic enrichment was probably even accelerated at that time.
Whether that's good news or bad news, I don't know; it's in the eye
of the beholder. Certainly, the energy crisis is still a major
concern.
DOE started programs to build plants for producing synthetic fuels.
Some of the national laboratories even bought their first lumps of
coal for experiments related to liquefying and gasifying coal.
Americans lowered their thermostats and drove 55 miles per hour. As
a result of some other political events, it was suggested that DOE
be abolished. DOE survived, but changes occurred, such as a
reduction in a major program to build coal gasification plants, a
rapid growth of weapons production, and a shift away from applied
research in favor of basic research.
WATERSHED EVENTS
From 1981 through 1987, I served as director of DOE's Office of
Energy Research. In 1983, a woman entered my office and said, "Do
you know there are 2.4 million pounds of mercury in the ground at
Oak Ridge?" I was really tempted to say, "No, but if you hum a few
bars, I'll see if I can pick up the melody," but I didn't. I was
certain that this was a joke or a mistake and that several of those
zeros should be taken off. It couldn't be that bad, I thought, but
it turned out to be true that there was a lot of mercury that had
been spilled, although the actual number turned out to be 350,000
pounds. I suspect that day was no better for Joe La Grone, manager
of the DOE Oak Ridge Field Office, than it was for me when we
learned about this heavy metal contamination resulting from weapons
production at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The news resulted in some
truly bad jokes about 6-inch fish that weighed 20 pounds.
The 1983 revelation about mercury in the soils and waters of Oak
Ridge was the watershed event that resulted in a buildup of
pressure nationally to clean up DOE production and research sites.
Before then it was fairly easy for DOE managers to say, "Look, we
are making realistic progress at a reasonable rate in cleaning up
many of the sites for which we have responsibility."
After the mercury revelation, ES&H matters received substantially
more attention. Some might say that another watershed event was the
1979 nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island. It was
serious and clearly had a profound effect on the nuclear industry
and the management of civilian nuclear energy programs. But I think
the Three Mile Island accident was insignificant in comparison with
the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl reactor. I got caught up in all
the department's activities concerning Chernobyl as I helped set up
new committees and reviewed documents for Congress. It was a
frantic period, but it was necessary because of the importance of
preventing a repetition of the Chernobyl disaster. Direct
consequences of that watershed event were the permanent shutdown of
the N-Reactor at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory and
the temporary shutdown of ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor
(HFIR).
As a result of the Chernobyl accident, ES&H programs received
increased emphasis at DOE facilities. The department began to focus
on identifying the facilities that needed to be cleaned up first as
well as the best methods to remediate them. It was clear that it
would be just a matter of time before business changed.
Another watershed event was the surprise that Admiral James
Watkins, the Secretary of Energy, experienced on Thanksgiving of
1989. A Federal Bureau of Investigation team came to DOE's Rocky
Flats Plant in search of criminal environmental violations. This
investigation led to the development of comprehensive environmental
and safety audits. These are now called Tiger Team audits, and they
are done at DOE facilities to ensure that they are complying with
environmental laws, rules, and regulations.
Many of us look back with a certain fondness or nostalgia for the
good old days of the AEC, but I don't think there is any way we can
work as we did back then. The Laboratory staff has learned to
operate in its present circumstances. The AEC and ERDA are gone,
and the old ways of doing business are not coming back.
The American public is more concerned about the environment than
ever before. Today, the public does not trust DOE. Members of the
public want independent verification of the many facts we generate,
and their demand for more audits and oversight will continue. Such
audits are intrusive, invasive, and a fact of life. We are going to
have to learn to work in this climate and compete for scientific
and technical programs at the same time. It is not easy now, and
it is not likely to get any easier.
In early 1991, the on-site Tiger Team assessment at ORNL had just
concluded, and we prepared an action plan to correct some of the
cited deficiencies. I am pleased to report that we have made really
good progress, and I think we have some prospects for funding for
some expensive projects. But correcting the deficiencies is not
going to get easier either. We will experience conflicts between
the need to clean things up to comply with regulations and the
desire to operate scientific programs to serve our customers.
In the Year of the Tiger, we did the right thing. By meeting our
goal of surviving those difficult circumstances, we are really
better prepared and well positioned to work through the tough times
ahead.
DOE SUMMIT MEETINGS
A watershed event that occurred in 1991 may have as much effect on
the Laboratory's future as any event mentioned thus far. It was the
so-called "summit meeting," which took place September 17 and 18 in
Leesburg, Virginia. There Secretary Watkins urged the DOE
laboratory directors to hold off-site meetings with political
appointees and DOE field office managers to discuss the problems of
managing the laboratories.
By my recollection, it really was a unique event in the entire
history of any of the government energy agencies. Secretary Watkins
got intensely involved, rolled up his sleeves, participated with
us, got into the arguments with everyone, and, although he clearly
was the boss, he certainly behaved in many respects as an equal and
worked very effectively during that period. As a result of that
meeting, several working committees have been set up to look into
new issues, and an agreement was made to involve the laboratory
directors in developing and writing DOE orders.
The summit meeting may prove to be one of the really important
events in the history of the DOE laboratories. The Secretary of
Energy says he will meet with us periodically. The second meeting
was held in March 1992, and we discussed a number of the issues we
had no time for at the September summit meeting. The summit meeting
focused primarily on roles and missions and ways to improve our
laboratory performance. Already the summit meeting has proven to be
a best-of-times event.
One of the ironies is that, over the years, the laboratory
directors complained bitterly that DOE paid no attention to them.
Well, now the department is paying attention to us laboratory
directors, and because such attention creates a lot of work, we are
complaining about it. DOE just can't win!
STRENGTHENING R&D: BUREAUCRATIC CHANGES
An event that I hope will have some influence on the future of ORNL
is the establishment of the R&D Strategic Planning Committee. The
intent of this committee is to respond to a legitimate,
longstanding complaint: management isn't paying any attention to
the scientific and research programs at the Laboratory. Guilty as
charged. The extenuating circumstances are that ORNL managers had
to concentrate on certain activities to ensure that the Laboratory
would survive the Tiger Team audit. True, we diverted our attention
away from research, but our intention now is to return to it. This
new committee, which includes research associate directors and
division directors as well as some working scientists and
engineers, is a good group. We have met only a few times. We are
still trying to feel our way along, but I think that this approach
will improve our ability to compete for funding for research
projects that would best use our experience and expertise.
A new Operations Committee will try to improve operations at the
Laboratory. This committee includes representatives from research
divisions and operating divisions. Its purpose is to find ways for
the people who are responsible for operations to be more responsive
to their customers. This committee will also look at the management
work load and find ways to delegate management responsibilities to
various groups through the empowerment of ORNL employees. A related
activity is the establishment of new review committees for the
operations divisions, similar to the review committees for our
scientific programs. In this way, the customers who serve on a
committee can evaluate a particular operating division and make
recommendations for its improvement. We will also include on these
committees some experts from outside laboratories and elsewhere
within Energy Systems.
STRENGTHENING R&D: COMPUTING CAPABILITY
Besides these bureaucratic changes, the Laboratory can strengthen
its R&D by using increasingly powerful computers. Research and
development has embraced computers as much as the commercial world.
In fact, a relatively new branch in the taxonomy of science is
computing science, which complements experimental science and
theoretical science.
One of my concerns when I first became director of the Laboratory
was that we were not competing very well with our sister
institutions in computing science, even though the Laboratory has
more than 5000 computers of various sizes. Very few individuals in
the Laboratory were working on problems on which progress could be
made without access to a world-class supercomputer. As a result of
this concern, I recruited Ed Oliver and appointed him director of
the Office of Laboratory Computing. Oliver; Bob Ward, director of
ORNL's Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division; Al Geist and
Richard Sincovec, both of Ward's division; Malcolm Stocks of the
Metals and Ceramics Division; and others drafted a proposal in 1991
requesting funding under the new high-performance computing
initiative that had been working through the DOE system. The
competition was very tough, because competitors with whom we were
playing had great resource advantages. But, because of our growing
expertise in parallel computing, I am pleased that ORNL was one of
the two sites selected by DOE to become high-performance computer
research centers. Our goal will be to start solving complex
scientific problems, called Grand Challenges, using a parallel
supercomputer. We will first focus on modeling the transport of
pollutants in groundwater and designing new alloys. We will receive
$120 million over the next five years to establish and operate a
new Center for Computational Science, and we will recruit a
director to manage the center.
Let me comment on our success in becoming a computer center. It is
often assumed that all it takes to win a project is a good
proposal. We tend to forget that many dedicated employees at DOE
and other government agencies actually fight hard for budget items
that are important for our nation. Members of Congress and their
staffs have also worked to ensure funding for the high-performance
computing initiative. Many people deserve our collective thanks for
bringing ORNL this opportunity. We have an obligation to do a good
job for them and I am quite confident that we will do so.
Engineering workstations are powerful intermediate computing tools
that are gaining wide acceptance. They can perform many
calculations that once were run only on large mainframe computers.
Unfortunately, ORNL has less than 100 engineering workstations,
whereas some of our competitors have a few thousand. This is one
area in which we hope to improve.
Computers are also important tools for educating future scientists.
On Saturdays, high school students come to the Laboratory to attend
the Saturday Academy of Computing and Mathematics. We patterned
this school after the Fermi Laboratory's Saturday Academy for
High-Energy Physics. We encourage high school students to work on
computers in what is turning out to be a very effective and popular
program.
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROGRAMS
From my experience in teaching physics for about 20 years at
several universities, I learned that universities have a difficult
time operating interdisciplinary research programs. It is difficult
for two faculty members to do collaborative research within one
department, let alone across departmental lines. ORNL has its share
of problems, but one of them is not setting up and managing
interdisciplinary research programs. In 1991, in addition to the
Center for Computational Science, we started or became involved in
several interdisciplinary programs.
First, we established the Center for Risk Management, headed by
Curtis Travis. It is important to understand the risks and benefits
of various activities, including remediation of hazardous waste
sites.
We also established the Bioprocessing Research and Development
Center, headed by Chuck Scott. This center will develop
bioprocesses that economically produce fuels and chemicals from
fossil materials and renewable feedstocks, including recycled waste
material such as paper. In addition, it will develop bioprocessing
systems to remove and degrade pollutants. Emphasis will be on
expanding interactions with academia, other national laboratories,
and industry and on technology transfer. (See "R&D Updates" for
more details.)
In addition, ORNL has joined the University of Tennessee and the
Tennessee Valley Authority in establishing the Joint Institute of
Energy and the Environment. It will promote cooperative research
and educational programs involving all three institutions. In this
way, we can help each other provide even better services.
In 1991 the HFIR completed its 300th reactor fuel cycle. To help us
celebrate, we were sort of visited by a president of the United
States. Some of Zachary Taylor's remains were sent to ORNL for
neutron activation analysis at the HFIR to determine if he had died
of arsenic poisoning as a historian had theorized. Neutrons were
used to irradiate samples of his hair, fingernails, and bones,
because various substances irradiated with neutrons give off
characteristic gamma-ray signatures that make possible a
determination of the elemental composition of the samples.
Analytical chemists Larry Robinson and Frank Dyer found that the
samples contained virtually no arsenic. And President Bush might be
interested to know that they had no reason to suspect broccoli
poisoning as the cause of Zachary Taylor's death, either.
RECRUITING AND RETAINING STAFF
To achieve excellence as an institution, we should strive to
attract more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Many of
these may fit into permanent positions at ORNL after they complete
their scientific or technical education here. In this way, we lower
the average age of the scientific and technical staff at the
Laboratory, which is around 46. It is nice that everybody loves it
here and that we have a good stable population. But the Laboratory
would benefit from having a greater number of young researchers to
offer us energy, enthusiasm, and new ideas. We need a higher
turnover rate, and we should hire more young researchers.
How do we go about recruiting and retaining staff? One way is to
offer fellowships, such as the nationally competitive Hollaender
and Householder Fellowships. An appropriations bill contains
language establishing a High Temperature Materials Laboratory
(HTML) Fellowship Program, which would make the HTML an educational
vehicle for both industrial and university materials researchers.
Fellowships are a good way to attract prospective scientific staff
members. We look each other over, and some of them will stay.
One problem I asked our Corporate Fellows to look at was the fact
that few people know that ORNL has been sponsoring postdoctoral
research programs. They came up with a plan for a new ORNL
Postdoctoral Program, which was approved by the Laboratory's
Executive Committee. One of the features of the plan is that Oak
Ridge Associated Universities will still operate the program but
increase the Laboratory's visibility as the sponsor of these
postdoctoral fellowships.
Another way to attract highly capable researchers is through new
programs such as the Visiting Distinguished Scientists and
Engineers Program. The first Visiting Distinguished Scientist is
E. Ward Plummer, the William Smith Professor of Physics at the
University of Pennsylvania and an internationally renowned surface
physicist. He is going to collaborate with the Surface Physics and
Theory Groups in the Solid State Division. Through this program, we
can call attention to what we are doing, involve some renowned
experts in our activities, and give them the recognition that they
deserve.
INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL GROUPS
We are not an island. The Laboratory staff must interact with
people in external organizations to survive. Energy Systems' Office
of Technology Transfer and ORNL's High Temperature
Superconductivity Pilot Center, which has 17 active agreements with
industrial firms, have done fine jobs of bringing people together
to help move Laboratory developments into the marketplace--one of
DOE's goals. Technology transfer is really a contact sport--a way
of getting people from various disciplines to rub shoulders and
play a game in which everybody should be a winner.
One good example involves a partnership between IBM and ORNL in
research in high-temperature superconductivity. If the new
high-temperature superconducting materials are placed in a magnetic
field, the magnetic flux will move under the influence of an
electric current, causing the material to dissipate energy. But if
the magnetic flux lines can be pinned--say, by some defects in the
material--it will continue to conduct without energy loss. Working
with IBM researchers, ORNL researchers bombarded samples of
yttrium, barium, and copper oxides (YBCO) with a beam of
high-energy tin ions at the Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility
and then placed the samples in a magnetic field at low temperatures
for measurements of superconductive properties. They found that the
heavy-ion-induced defects are very effective in pinning the
magnetic flux lines, especially when the magnetic field is parallel
to the defect tracks. As a result, the material's ability to carry
electrical current declines much more slowly in a magnetic field as
the density of the defect tracks increases. The ORNL researchers
were Jim Thompson, Dave Christen, Rich Kerchner, Brian Sales, Bryan
Chakoumakos, and Lynn Boatner. Such cooperation between ORNL's
Solid State Division and IBM helps increase our researchers' basic
understanding of superconducting materials and helps move IBM
closer to making practical devices using these materials.
Through the Roof Research Center, a DOE user facility at ORNL, our
researchers have helped the roofing industry understand which types
of attic insulation are most effective and why. Some of my
colleagues still don't believe that there is roof research in Oak
Ridge. They think the most recent research on roofs was probably
done about 6000 BC in the south of France when people painted the
ceilings in their caves. Our researchers can explain why
Minnesotans have such high heating bills even after they paid for
loose insulation sprayed into their attics. It turns out that
spraying some types of loosefill insulation permits air movement
within the insulation, resulting in natural convection. Compared
with conduction, natural convection in attic insulation can result
in the escape of more heat from within a building to the outside.
In measuring the effectiveness of attic insulation in houses during
the winter, ORNL researchers led by Jeff Christian have confirmed
that natural convective heat loss in some loosefill fiberglass
insulations can be responsible for as much as half of the heat loss
at very low temperatures. This particular piece of research at the
Roof Research Center is leading to changes in the handbooks on
installing attic insulation, a major accomplishment for the
Laboratory.
To increase our interactions with industry, two new user centers
were created in the HTML. The Ceramic Specimen Preparation User
Center will provide basic facilities for studying the effects of
machining and fabricating ceramic specimens for use in evaluating
the mechanical performance of structural ceramics. The Residual
Stress User Center will seek to better understand the behavior of
composites and the effects on materials of grinding, forming,
joining, finishing, and thermally treating them.
Another way we are helping industry is by providing our expertise
on microwave processing, a rapidly growing industrial tool used
for sintering ceramics, plasma processing of semiconductor wafers,
and accelerating the curing of polymers. Traditionally, such
processing has been carried out at fixed frequencies, which results
in nonuniform heating of materials. Bob Lauf of the Metals and
Ceramics Division and Don Bible of the Instrumentation and Controls
Division have developed a variable frequency microwave furnace.
This unique device, which provides a range of frequencies, uses a
wideband traveling wave tube originally developed by Microwave
Laboratories, Inc. (MLI), for electronic warfare. Through a
cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), ORNL has
transferred the technology to MLI, which is now manufacturing
complete furnace units.
ORNL researchers have worked with industrial researchers through
the High Temperature Superconductivity Pilot Center to develop a
lead-doped bismuth superconducting material. By developing and
using innovative powder-in-tube processing methods adaptable to
continuous manufacturing processes, they have made short wires
whose electrical performance exceeds the interim DOE goal for
super-conducting wire.
Some of our most successful research projects start internally,
from the bottom up. Our people propose projects and receive enough
internal funding to prove their ideas will work. The really
successful projects grow into programs that receive funding from
DOE and other outside agencies. A few years ago, DOE started the
Human Genome program. Six of the nine human genome projects at ORNL
were started with support from our Laboratory Director's Research
and Development Fund. Because of the merit of these projects, ORNL
is now receiving outside funding from DOE's Human Genome program.
This is an important area for the Laboratory to be involved in.
One current internally funded project that may prove beneficial for
human genome studies is the use of neutron diffraction at the HFIR
for determining the properties of biological materials (see
photograph of Gerry Bunick setting up neutron diffraction equipment
at the HFIR). ORNL's biology R&D will be strengthened by the
availability of more experimental equipment at the HFIR for studies
of the structure of biological materials.
The Director's Fund was also used to support studies of the
formation of negative ions of buckminster fullerenes, or
buckyballs, molecules made of 60 carbon atoms that may have uses as
lubricants and superconductors. Our research successes should give
ORNL a major role in developing applications for buckyballs.
Our internal funding is one of our most precious resources. In
1992, we may be allowed up to $10 million for internal support of
research.
While at DOE, I was always fascinated by the ability of the
department's national laboratories to do such original and
innovative work with just a few dollars. A fascinating inverse
correlation exists between the quantity of dollars spent on this
research and the quality of its results. On the other hand, DOE
spends substantial programmatic dollars over which it has
considerable control and direction, yet these programs don't seem
to produce quite the same frequency of hits. There is probably a
message there, but I've not figured out how to get it across in a
way that would benefit government-sponsored research.
One measure for judging the performance of the Laboratory is by
assessing how well others think we are doing. The Laboratory staff
continues to receive its fair share of awards and honors. Such
successes help establish our expertise, attract funding and
personnel, and strengthen our R&D programs.
Every year, our staff members continue to be elevated to the rank
of fellow in numerous professional societies, such as the American
Physical Society, American Chemical Society, American Association
for the Advancement of Science, ASM International, and the American
Nuclear Society. In 1991, 32 of our staff members were named
fellows of professional societies; altogether, ORNL has 212
fellows. Nine of our people were elected officers of national
professional societies. Election to a society board is usually a
recognition of a person's scientific and technical accomplishments
and willingness to take on some mundane jobs to benefit the
society.
Among the awards we value highly are the R&D 100 awards given each
year by Research & Development magazine. Perhaps the award-winning
innovation of 1991 that will have the most human impact is the
Direct Braille Slate, which allows blind people to write in braille
directly on paper. It was invented by Joe Turner and Larry Hawk,
both of ORNL's Applied Technology Division. This invention has been
nominated for the National Medal of Technology and President Bush's
1000 Points of Light Award. Hawk recently received the Advanced
Technology Award from the International Hall of Fame of the
Inventors Clubs of America.
Another R&D 100 Award-winning entry works on the principle that, if
a conductor and a nonconductor are placed in a magnetic field, the
first will experience a force when moved but the second will not.
ORNL consultant Igor Alexeff and David Hobson and Vinod Sikka, both
of the Metals and Ceramics (M&C) Division, have applied this
principle to removing nonconducting impurities from conducting
liquid metals used to make consumer products such as beverage cans.
When consumers buy gasoline for their cars, they like to think they
are getting the octane level they paid for. But is it possible to
measure octane to determine the quality of the fuel being
purchased? Bob Lauf of the M&C Division and Barbara Hoffheins of
the Instrumentation and Controls Division have developed a rapid
fuel analyzer, which can measure gasoline octane and also identify
spilled fuels. Their device, which includes a neural net, received
an R&D 100 Award.
Another award that is very important to us is the one given by
DOE's Division of Material Science. The Department of Energy has a
competition among the projects that it sponsors and, over the past
three years, the Laboratory staff has won eight awards--more than
any other laboratory.
DOE Associate Awards were given in 1991 to Paul Haubenreich, a
recent ORNL retiree, for his leadership in the International Large
Coil Task; Mike Wilkinson, for his neutron research
accomplishments, his leadership in the Solid State Division, and
his service as a member of the Advisory Committee for DOE's Basic
Energy Sciences (BES) Program and of the BES Program Council on
Materials; and Herman Postma, former Energy Systems senior vice
president, for his leadership as ORNL director from 1974 through
1988. In 1991, Energy Systems selected Ralph Moon and Tom Shannon
as Corporate Fellows and Loucas Christophorou as Senior Corporate
Fellow. These individuals richly deserve this recognition.
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
ORNL researchers achieved some outstanding technical feats in 1991.
These are summarized here and in two sidebars below.
We have made contributions to the development of modular
high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (MHTGCR), which may revitalize
the nuclear industry. We are addressing safety concerns through
tests done in the furnace of our Core Conduction Cooldown Test
Facility, which was developed to heat irradiated particles up to
2000øC for hundreds of hours for studies of the released fission
products. The information obtained is used to evaluate MHTGR fuel
performance during accident conditions and to develop computer
models of fission product releases.
A portable, lightweight, accurate system for weighing vehicles in
motion was developed by the Applied Technology Division. This
system, which is based on fiber-optic technology, is packaged in
six portable canvas cases. The system's accuracy has been
demonstrated; its measurements of the weights of moving vehicles,
ranging from lightweight vans to large cranes, deviated by only 0.5
to 3.0% from the known weights of these vehicles standing still. As
a result of a successful series of competitive evaluations by the
Army Corps of Engineers, the Defense Nuclear Agency has provided
funding for an advanced system (for additional details, see sidebar
below).
As part of the research for DOE's proposed Heavy Water Reactor for
the tritium-producing New Production Reactor project at the
Savannah River Site, ORNL's Engineering Technology Division was
asked to determine whether the proposed primary piping for carrying
the reactor coolant is safe. Specifically, we were asked to
demonstrate that the primary piping cannot break instantaneously
and cause a loss-of-coolant accident, which has been considered a
credible possibility. If research results show that such a
double-ended guillotine pipe break (DEGB) is not credible, the
potential savings are considerable. The first stage of the research
is now complete. A pipe was fabricated to nuclear industry
standards, and a flaw larger than any seen in piping in service in
60 years was machined into it. ORNL's Pipe Impact Test Facility was
used to apply loads to the pipe 30 times at levels equal to and
greater than the impacts of a major earthquake. In addition, the
pipe was put through some 200,000 fatigue cycles and two
crack-tearing overloads to confirm fracture mechanics theories and
demonstrate that a DEGB is not possible.
An automated surface-mapping system developed by ORNL's Robotics
and Process Systems Division as part of a DOE robotics project was
successfully operated in the waste storage silos of what used to be
the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center in Ohio. The maps of
the surface topology of the silos, obtained by computer-based laser
imaging techniques, were used to plan the deposition of a 31-cm
(12-in.) bentonite clay cap over the silos to absorb the radon
emitted by the stored uranium ore residue. Because accurate surface
maps made possible deposition of the bentonite only where it is
needed, excess placement of the material (and removal of it later)
was minimized, saving the Fernald Environmental Management Project
approximately $25 million in remedial action costs.
ORNL's expertise in environmental impact assessment has received
international visibility. Scientists in the Environmental Sciences
Division are assisting the Environmental Protection Agency in
heading a United Nations Task Force on Applications of the
Principles of Environmental Impact Assessment to Policies, Plans,
and Programs for the European Economic Community. ORNL also
prepared an environmental impact statement for the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to address the extent to which research activities
in Antarctica harm its pristine environment. We are also conducting
other assessments for the NSF to help improve management of the
U.S. Antarctic Research Program to minimize its environmental
effects.
We have developed the parallel virtual machine, a network of
computers throughout the country that work together on the same
complex technical problem, doing the job of a supercomputer (see
the sidebar below).
We have shown that a cold source for producing very slow neutron
beams from the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) is feasible. Using a
scanning tunneling microscope, we have taken a picture of a
complete gene-containing DNA molecule. We have developed an
automated system for reloading ammunition in armored tanks and, as
a result, the U.S. Army has cited ORNL as a world-class research
and development institution.
OUTLOOK
The proposed ANS, which we hope to build at ORNL by 1998, continues
to be supported. This year the President's budget calls for $22
million to support the design of and related R&D work on the ANS.
This amount is less than we hoped for. We are still working
vigorously to persuade DOE to make the ANS a line item for fiscal
year 1994.
The Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility, which had been
identified as a candidate for closing by DOE, will be temporarily
shut down for development of a radioactive ion beam capability. Its
new ability to produce exotic beams will make it a unique facility
for studies of astrophysical phenomena, providing a strong
rationale for the accelerator's continued operation.
We have been making plans for some time to relocate ORNL's Biology
Division from the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant to the west end of the X-10
site. Relocation requires a new building, called the Center for
Biological Sciences, which would cost around $100 million. Because
it takes a concerted effort to persuade people in the government to
make such a commitment, we have made a new biology building at ORNL
one of our higher-priority activities. This is one of the goals on
which the R&D Strategic Planning Committee will focus. It never
works to have as many as 20 "first-priority" activities. We must
get behind and really push one or two projects that are at the top
of the list.
CLOSING OBSERVATIONS
I would like to close with some observations that may seem a little
unusual. Over the years, I have written and evaluated many
proposals. I know that it is necessary to have a good proposal, but
that it is never sufficient. What scientists and engineers often
don't see is the amount of competition involved in developing
budgets. We probably underappreciate the friendly bureaucrats in
Washington who engage in the full contact sport of the budget
battle--fighting for a budget and getting it through the internal
departmental process, fighting with the Office of Management and
Budget, and fighting with the Congress, which sometimes does--and
sometimes doesn't--help secure funding for programs of importance
to ORNL.
At times it seems that we at this end are a little contemptuous of
their efforts and don't appreciate them. It doesn't hurt to say
thanks to people who work in our behalf. I think that we have
turned the corner in our relationship with the DOE Oak Ridge Field
Office. Without their cooperation and assistance, we wouldn't
achieve some of the things we need to do. Now, relations are
sometimes strained, and there is a tendency to point fingers at
each other for things that should have been done and weren't or
shouldn't have been done and were. But I believe that most of the
federal employees really want to do a good job, and we should take
that into account. Probably we collectively suffer from a little
hubris. I hope that doesn't come as a shock. Sometimes we probably
believe we don't need the help of federal employees. But after our
proposals are sent in, we do need them. It is important to keep
that in mind.
I am pleased that our relationship has improved with our DOE field
office, and I think it is only fair to give Joe La Grone, Oak Ridge
Field Office manager, a good deal of credit for that. I think I
probably have a better understanding than most of field office
problems because of my experience in the Department of Energy. The
past year has not been easy for DOE field offices or the
department. We need to show more understanding of their situation
as we try to improve our situation in regard to doing research.
I think that 1991 was a tough year for Clyde Hopkins, Energy
Systems president. The Laboratory causes him problems from time to
time. I do appreciate the fact that he treats us with a good sense
of humor, and we appreciate his friendship and support in this, the
Year of the Frog.
DIRECTOR'S AWARDS
Each year I give Director's Awards to outstanding divisions. In
1991, I started giving one award to the best service division and
the other to the best research division or program for the year. I
will do the same this year.
Because of the extra security required at ORNL during the Persian
Gulf War and other important security activities, the group that
deserves the most recognition is the Laboratory Protection
Division, headed by Charlie Kuykendall. The award citation
recognizes this division "for addressing all activities effectively
and efficiently, in a manner consistent with the Laboratory's
values, and with a special emphasis on friendliness."
The Director's Award for a research program goes to the
Conservation and Renewable Energy Program, the largest program at
ORNL. Funded at $60 million, it is the largest conservation program
at any of the national laboratories. The person who built it as an
outgrowth of an NSF program started at ORNL in 1970 is Roger
Carlsmith. He conceived the idea for the program and obtained
support for it over the years from the NSF, ERDA, and DOE. Its
successes include the development of high-efficiency heat pumps,
high-temperature superconductors, and advanced materials for heat
engines. Policy studies done by program participants have
influenced electric utilities and legislation dealing with the use
of conservation technology. The program includes research performed
at DOE user facilities at ORNL, especially the High Temperature
Materials Laboratory and the Roof Research Center. The program was
responsible for the first instances of technology transfer from
ORNL that used CRADAs. Industrial partners have collaborated
extensively with program researchers through subcontracting and
joint efforts. The Conservation and Renewable Energy Program is
really a great model for a successful energy program. The award
citation recognizes this outstanding program for "its contribution
to increased energy efficiency and its responsiveness to industry's
needs."
--Alvin Trivelpiece
SIDEBARS
Linking Many Computers to do a Supercomputer's Job
Thanks to new computer programs co-developed at ORNL, researchers
throughout the world can use the combined power of many desktop
computers to solve complex technical problems that once could be
addressed only by a supercomputer. The supercomputing capability is
now available to researchers through a software package called the
parallel virtual machine (PVM).
Created by a team from ORNL, the University of Tennessee, and Emory
University, PVM is one of the first software systems to enable
computers varying greatly in architecture and data format to work
together at the same time on a single computational task, such as
a complex calculation. Linked together by a network, these
computers form a "virtual machine," a configuration having the
power of a multi-million-dollar parallel super-computer.
PVM functions in a computer network something like a police officer
directing traffic. The software monitors the informational traffic
moving among the various computers in the network and ensures that
it flows as efficiently as possible.
PVM can increase the cost effectiveness of research operations by
harnessing computer workstations when their users do not need them.
During off hours, several workstations linked by PVM can solve
problems that normally would be submitted to a more powerful
mainframe computer. In addition, the software is publicly available
through an ORNL electronic mail network.
According to Al Geist, a co-developer of the software and a
researcher in the Engineering Physics and Mathematics Division, use
of the PVM system to tap the aggregate power of workstations having
a combined cost of roughly $250,000 has resulted in computing
speeds rivaling those of $20 million supercomputers. The package
has been used to operate as many as 105 workstations
simultaneously. "By using PVM to link many workstations together,"
Geist says, "researchers get the best computer performance for the
price."
For those with the resources, PVM can also be used to connect
supercomputers. "It has been used to link multiple supercomputers
around the world to achieve the very high computational performance
needed to solve problems such as weather modeling and materials
design," says Geist. "The amount of work achieved is limited only
by the number and power of the computers accessed."
PVM, which has been dubbed the "poor man's supercomputer," will be
particularly beneficial to universities that have not been able to
offer courses in super-computing because of the high cost of the
hardware. "Thanks to PVM," Geist notes, "students can now be taught
how to write parallel programs that apply to supercomputing, even
though their university could never afford an actual
supercomputer." In the fall of 1991, five universities used PVM in
this way. They were Emory University, Florida State University, the
University of Maine, the University of Tennessee, and the
University of Utah.
Use of the program is not limited to scientists. "Individuals and
businesses who have a need for this type of application and who
have access to an electronic mail network can also obtain PVM
through the Laboratory," Geist said. To obtain the PVM User's Guide
and source code, send e-mail to netlib@ornl.gov with this message:
"send index from PVM."
The PVM package is small (requiring only 400 kilobytes of memory)
and easy to install. A single installation on each machine in a
network provides accessibility to all users, each of whom can
create his or her own virtual supercomputer, which overlaps with
other users' virtual supercomputers.
Parallel computing using the PVM system may be the key to solving
so-called "computational Grand Challenges," such as modeling the
global climate, groundwater transport of hazardous waste, and the
structure of super-conductors. "At this time," Geist says, "these
problems can't be solved by any one of the large serial computers
because they lack the power as a result of their physical
limitations. Thus, parallel computers will be required to solve
these problems."
--Wayne Scarbrough
ORNL's Vehicle Weigh-in-Motion System: Things that go Whump
in the Night
Whump, whump! To the discriminating motorist this sound usually
means one of two things--either Mr. Possum zigged when he should
have zagged, or one of those anonymous traffic monitoring devices
has counted another vehicle. Thanks to Jeff Muhs of ORNL's Applied
Technology Divison, we can add another potential source of whumps
in the road--the fiber-optic weigh-in-motion (WIM) system. The
portable, lightweight WIM system uses an array of fiber-optic
sensors and contact switches mounted on the road to determine a
vehicle's weight, speed, acceleration, number of axles, and several
other characteristics.
The system consists of eight contact switches, two fiber-optic
transducers (one for each side of the vehicle), an interface that
converts optical signals to electronic data, a battery pack, and a
computer control system. When a vehicle's tire rolls across one of
the system's transducers, it compresses optical fibers in the
transducers, reducing the amount of light they transmit. The
greater the weight of the vehicle, the less light is transmitted.
The light that passes through the compressed fibers is translated
into a weight for each wheel of the vehicle, and data for all
wheels are summed to determine gross vehicle weight. In addition,
each transducer is paired with a set of four contact switches that
measure the time it takes for the vehicle to pass over the system,
its lateral position in the roadway, and other parameters to
determine other vehicle characteristics, such as speed and
acceleration.
To convince potential sponsors of the system's capabilities, Muhs
and his colleagues took the system to an Army Corps of Engineers
test facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi, for a head-to-head
competition with an established piezoelectric system developed by
the Texas Transportation Institute. Even though the ORNL system was
built from the ground up in nine months, it outperformed the
competition. As a result, further development is now being funded
by the Department of Defense, which is interested in the WIM as a
method of monitoring traffic moving in and out of military
installations and regulating the loading of ships and transport
planes. The WIM has also been proposed as a method of ensuring
proper weight distribution in aircraft taxiing for takeoff.
In tests with loads ranging from a light van to a 60-ton crane, the
system produced readings accurate to within 3% of the known weight
of the vehicles. Currently, the system is limited to vehicles
moving at less than 16 kph (10 mph), but Muhs says he sees no
practical limit to the system's speed range if money is available
for further development.
Several private companies have also expressed an interest in the
WIM system for speeding up the process of weighing trucks on the
highway and assessing use fees for vehicles hauling waste to
landfills.
Muhs sees applications for the WIM systems in the traffic control
systems of the near future. "The system could be used to assess
tolls on vehicles without requiring them to stop," says Muhs. "It
would also provide a more equitable assessment of tolls, based on
vehicle weight." Other potential uses include characterizing
traffic by speed or type of vehicle or detecting commercial truck
traffic trying to avoid weigh stations.
--Jim Pearce
(keywords: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL)
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Date Posted: 2/7/94 (ktb)