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ORNL's Communications team works with news media seeking information about the laboratory. Media may use the resources listed below or send questions to news@ornl.gov.

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Two pictures of a rounded triangle shape are shown in mirror image. The left is white with red and purple spots in the middle while the one on the right is purple with a yellow and blue ring in the middle

Scientists designing the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion power plant, ITER, needed to solve the problem of runaway electrons, negatively charged particles in the soup of matter in the plasma within the tokamak, the magnetic bottle intended to contain the massive energy produced. Simulations performed on Summit, the 200-petaflop supercomputer at ORNL, could offer the first step toward a solution.

ORNL’s Askin Guler Yigitoglu presents during the 2024 Molten Salt Reactor Workshop in Knoxville with a green and blue background

ORNL’s annual workshop has become the premier forum for molten salt reactor, or MSR, collaboration and innovation, convening industry, academia and government experts to further advance MSR research and development. This year’s event attracted a record-breaking 365 participants from across the country, highlighting the momentum to bring MSRs online.

Kathryn McCarthy, director of the US ITER Project is pictured here posing against a black background.

Kathryn McCarthy, director of the US ITER Project at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been awarded the 2024 E. Gail de Planque Medal by the American Nuclear Society.

The 2024 IAEA Nuclear Energy Management School cohort gathers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Three flights, five thousand miles and half a dozen clearances and permissions stood between Tetiana Maltseva and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. When she finally arrived at the lab to represent Ukraine at the 2024 Nuclear Energy Management School, her vision was clear. 

Illustration of oscillating UCI3 bonds

Researchers for the first time documented the specific chemistry dynamics and structure of high-temperature liquid uranium trichloride salt, a potential nuclear fuel source for next-generation reactors. 

Male student wearing clear safety goggles peering through a 3D-printed item.

A group of high school graduates and community college students visited ORNL to meet staff and find out just what goes on at a DOE national laboratory. The Job Shadow Day was arranged by tnAchieves, a student support organization that works to increase higher educational opportunities for students across Tennessee through scholarships and mentorship. 
 

The ORNL-developed inspection system uses an angled window to minimize light reflections while capturing images inside waveguides that are designed to channel microwaves at the ITER fusion project.

Inspection technology developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory will help deliver plasma heating to the ITER international fusion facility.

When exposed to radiation, electrons produced within molten zinc chloride, or ZnCl2, can be observed in three distinct singly occupied molecular orbital states, plus a more diffuse, delocalized state. Credit: Hung H. Nguyen/University of Iowa

In a finding that helps elucidate how molten salts in advanced nuclear reactors might behave, scientists have shown how electrons interacting with the ions of the molten salt can form three states with different properties. Understanding these states can help predict the impact of radiation on the performance of salt-fueled reactors.

Susan Hubbard, ORNL’s deputy for science and technology and Quincy Quick, TSU’s associate vice president for Research and Sponsored Programs, sign a memorandum of understanding to strengthen research cooperation and provide diverse undergraduate students enriching educational research opportunities at the lab. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Tennessee State University have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen research cooperation and provide diverse undergraduate students enriching educational research opportunities at the lab.

Susan Hubbard, ORNL’s deputy for science and technology and Can (John) Saygin, senior vice president for research and dean of the graduate college at UTRGV, sign a memorandum of understanding to strengthen research cooperation and establish a collaborative program for undergraduate research and education. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, known as UTRGV, have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen research cooperation and establish a collaborative program for undergraduate research and education, further cementing hi