SOLVING BIG PROBLEMS

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the world’s premier research institution, empowering leaders and teams to pursue breakthroughs in an environment marked by operational excellence and engagement with the communities where we live and work.

What We Do
Who We Are

Our People Are Our Greatest Strength

More than 5,800 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff representing more than 60 nations form a dynamic culture of innovation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Our focus on community, collaboration, and the environment shapes who we are and is integral to our success.

Leading The Way

Mission

Scientific Discovery
Clean Energy
National Security
Researcher

As the US Department of Energy’s largest multi-disciplinary laboratory, we apply a remarkable portfolio of scientific and technological expertise and world-class facilities to develop solutions for the complex challenges facing our nation. These challenges include adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change, improving human health, and enhancing US competitiveness by encouraging innovation.

Research

We play a pivotal role in building a clean, efficient, flexible, and secure energy future. Our scientists work with many of America’s best innovators and businesses to research, develop, and deploy cutting-edge technologies and to break down market barriers in sustainable transportation, smart power systems, and energy efficiency for homes, buildings, and manufacturing.

Researchers

ORNL advances the science behind national security. We secure critical assets to keep our national infrastructure running and our people safe. Our work protects nuclear materials to enable their secure, peaceful use for energy production, medical applications, and scientific discovery around the world. We advance human security to strengthen community resilience and save lives in times of disaster and crisis.

Join the Team.
Change the World.

Leveraging the talents of its world-class researchers and exceptional support staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping solve critical scientific and technical challenges and, in so doing, creating economic opportunity for the nation. ORNL provides access to unique facilities, laboratories, and equipment, drawing thousands of visiting researchers each year. A vibrant and welcoming scientific community, ORNL embraces the pursuit of innovative ideas and invests in its people to ensure their success.

Explore Careers at ORNL
ORNL careers
ORNL careers

Our Stories

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ORNL is studying how climate change may impact water availability for hydropower facilities such as the Shasta Dam and Lake in California. Credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
New report ensures hydropower sustainability amid climate change
ORNL postdoctoral researcher Runming Tao, pictured with a coin cell battery, led an effort to discover new anode materials for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries. Credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Lithium-ion battery material breaks barrier on fast charging
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s software suite AutoBEM is being used in the architecture, city planning, real estate and home efficiency industries. Users take advantage of the suite’s energy modeling of almost all U.S. buildings. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Industry partners use ORNL software to trim carbon footprint of buildings
Shown here is the structure of the NEMO protein. A team from ORNL conducted extensive molecular dynamics work on Summit by using both quantum mechanics and machine-learning methods to look at the binding affinity of NEMO and 3CLpro in humans and other species and to consider the structural models derived from the sequences of other coronaviruses. Image courtesy Nature Communications, Dan Jacobson/ORNL.
Lab experiments support COVID-19 bradykinin storm theory
Solar panels funded by the Honnold Foundation are installed in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Credit: Fabio Andrade
Researchers bring more reliable electricity to Puerto Rican microgrids
Biogeochemist Fernanda Santos works at a soil sampling site in Alaska as part of the ORNL-led NGEE–Arctic project. Credit: Amy Breen/University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fernanda Santos: Digging into charred landscapes for clues to carbon storage
ORNL fusion technology scientist Tim Bigelow, right, stands near the control console in ORNL’s  fusion control room with Matt Houde of Quaise Energy. Their partnership aims to tackle technical challenges with the Millimeter Wave Drilling System that Quaise has developed. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Using fusion technology, scientists probe the depths of the earth
A team of researchers used mathematics to predict which areas of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are most likely to mutate. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Using math to predict SARS-CoV-2 protein mutations
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Our Voices

our voices
our voices
our voices
our voices

Partner With Us

Collaborations are critical to modern science and engineering, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory engages in various types of collaboration with a range of organizations.

From private industry, to academia, to state and local governments, various types of organizations tap into ORNL's rare expertise and resources.

Learn More About Partnerships
User Facilities

"One of the privileges we have as a national lab is that we have the ability to move the entire laboratory, each of our institutions, to tackle these big, difficult, and hard problems of transitioning the society to a different mode of energy production, consumption, and distribution."

Thomas Zacharia Portrait
Thomas Zacharia
Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Facts & Stats
60+
Nationalities represented in the workforce
818
Patents issued since 2005
2,000+
Scientific publications per year
Learn more about ORNL