Recent News Releases

ORNL's Office of Communications and External Relations works with national, regional, and local media outlets on news stories about the laboratory.

For more information on ORNL and its research and development activities, please refer to one of our Media Contacts. If you have a general media-related question or comment, you can send it to news@ornl.gov.


Keller to lead ORNL's Biological and Environmental Sciences
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 29, 2009 — Martin Keller has been named to lead the Biological and Environmental Sciences Directorate (BESD) at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The appointment is effective July 1.

Four supercomputers at Oak Ridge computing complex among world's 25 fastest
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 24, 2009 — Jaguar XT5, a Cray high-performance computing system component at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, remains the world's fastest supercomputer for unclassified research, according to a roster released this week in Hamburg. The TOP500 list named four machines at the ORNL computing complex among the world's 25 swiftest. All told, five Oak Ridge machines made the list.

Jaguar XT5 remains the world's fastest supercomputer for unclassified research.
ORNL kicks off 2009 United Way campaign    Audio Clip
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 23, 2009 — University of Tennessee head football coach Lane Kiffin helped the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory kick off its 2009 United Way campaign with a rally in front of hundreds of employees.

ORNL officially kicked off its 2009 United Way Campaign on June 23 with speeches from UT Football Coach Lane Kiffin and ORNL Director Thom Mason.
ORNL appoints first Alvin Weinberg fellows
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 23, 2009 — Four early-career researchers have received the first Alvin M. Weinberg Fellowship appointments from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The first recipients have been named for a newly established fellowship at ORNL honoring Alvin M. Weinberg, ORNL director from 1955 to 1973.
Nuclear engineering program prepares future researchers
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 18, 2009 — An Oak Ridge National Laboratory program for nuclear engineering students is helping provide the workforce to produce carbon-free nuclear power for the future.

ORNL welcomes a record number of summer interns    Audio Clip
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 17, 2009 — A record number of undergraduate and graduate students at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are learning firsthand about science and technologies that could change lives.

Kelley Coffman is part of a record number of summer interns at ORNL. Coffman, a Vanderbilt graduate student, is working on research related to forensic anthropology.
ORNL finding could help electronics industry enter new phase
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 16, 2009 — Electronic devices of the future could be smaller, faster, more powerful and consume less energy because of a discovery by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

ORNL partners with GE on new electric water heater    Audio Clip
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 4, 2009 — About 400 jobs will be created at a Louisville General Electric plant where a new electric water heater will be built.

Bredesen Proposes Volunteer State Solar Initiative    Audio Clip
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 13, 2009 — Governor Phil Bredesen today proposed the Volunteer State Solar Initiative, a comprehensive solar-energy and economic-development program that will use up to $62.5 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to advance job creation, education, research, and renewable-power production in Tennessee.

UT, ORNL, TVA partner in Volunteer State Solar Initiative
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., May 13, 2009 — The University of Tennessee will join Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority as a partner in Gov. Phil Bredesen's proposed Volunteer State Solar Initiative announced today.

GE to Market SNS-Designed Electronics
KNOXVILLE , Tenn., May 8, 2009 — GE Energy, manufacturer of Reuter Stokes radiation detection equipment, signed a technology transfer agreement to market the electronics and software associated with the SNS 8Pack neutron detector system, an award-winning design for a system of sensitive neutron detectors developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).