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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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Secretary Wright leans over red computer door, signing with silver sharpie as ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer looks on

During his first visit to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Energy Secretary Chris Wright compared the urgency of the Lab’s World War II beginnings to today’s global race to lead in artificial intelligence, calling for a “Manhattan Project 2.”

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.

Researcher in a blue coat and glasses, purple gloves and white baseball gat pulls out materials from a metal canister

ORNL researchers created and tested two methods for transforming coal into the scarce mineral graphite, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles. 

Pictured is the ForWarn vegetation tracking tool that shows where areas of red where disturbance to forest canopy occured

The ForWarn visualization tool was co-developed by ORNL with the U.S. Forest Service. The tool captures and analyzes satellite imagery to track impacts such as storms, wildfire and pests on forests across the nation.

Pictured here are 9 scientists standing in a line in front of the frontier supercomputer logo/computer

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Frontier supercomputer to train the world’s largest AI model for weather prediction, paving the way for hyperlocal, ultra-accurate forecasts. This achievement earned them a finalist nomination for the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modeling.

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.

Digital image of molecules would look like. There are 10 clusters of these shapes in grey, red and blue with a teal blue background

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a method leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate the identification of environmentally friendly solvents for industrial carbon capture, biomass processing, rechargeable batteries and other applications.

The transportation and industrial sectors together account for more than 50% of the country’s carbon footprint. Defossilization could help reduce new emissions from these and other difficult-to-electrify segments of the U.S. economy.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and six other Department of Energy national laboratories have developed a United States-based perspective for achieving net-zero carbon emissions. 

ORNL researchers modeled how hurricane cloud cover would affect solar energy generation as a storm followed 10 possible trajectories over the Caribbean and Southern U.S. Credit: Andy Sproles/ ORNL,U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL researchers modeled how hurricane cloud cover would affect solar energy generation as a storm followed 10 possible trajectories over the Caribbean and Southern U.S.

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.