ORNL Fact Sheets

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ORNL Fact Sheets

These downloadable fact sheets feature Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s key research and development areas, scientific accomplishments, and societal impacts, as well as the information you need to reach out to this premier research institution.

Research and Development

  • Laboratory Overview - Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides exceptional researchers with distinctive equipment and unique facilities to solve some of the nation's most compelling challenges.
  • Advanced Manufacturing - A thriving manufacturing sector is vital to the nation's economic health and global security, yet few companies possess the R&D capacity that's essential to staying competitive.
  • Artificial Intelligence - Oak Ridge National Laboratory uniquely has the expertise and facilities to advance the state of the art in AI and to apply AI to DOE’s most pressing scientific challenges.
  • Battery Manufacturing - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is translating discoveries in materials and chemistries into battery prototype systems using solid electrolytes that result in lighter, faster charging, compact and more stable energy storage.
  • Bioenergy Technologies - ORNL’s bioenergy technologies research brings together experts in agricultural economics and engineering, computational science, environmental science, fuels and engines technology, materials science, and synthetic biology.
  • Biological and Environmental Systems Science - The Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate leads convergence research in biology, ecology, engineering, data discovery, physical sciences, and computing to advance US competitiveness in the global bioeconomy and Earth system sustainability.
  • Biosciences - ORNL’s biosciences R&D is focused on advancing science and technology to better understand complex biological systems and their relationship with the environment.
  • Building Technologies - ORNL is focused on developing new technologies and tools to enable grid-interactive efficient buildings that provide beneficial impacts to energy security and affordability, resilience, and the US economy.
  • Building the Path to Fusion Energy - The ultimate goal of fusion energy is to deliver a nearly inexhaustible electricity source for future generations.
  • Carbon Fiber - The Carbon Fiber Technology Facility is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility for carbon fiber innovation.
  • Center for Bioenergy Innovation - The Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL is custom engineering feedstock plants and microbes for a sustainable bioeconomy.
  • Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences - At the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, researchers make big discoveries about small materials.
  • Environmental Sciences - Researchers advance understanding of the natural world from the molecular to the global scale in Earth system science.
  • Energy Storage – ORNL is working with industry to develop energy storage solutions that boost energy efficiency, increase energy security, and create economic opportunity.
  • Grid Security - Americans' quality of life, economic vitality, and security all depend on the uninterrupted delivery of electricity to our homes, businesses, and public spaces.
  • High Flux Isotope Reactor - The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is the most powerful reactor-based source of neutrons in the United States.
  • High Flux Isotope Reactor: Driving real-world impacts through science discovery - The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is the most powerful reactor-based source of neutrons in the United States, and it provides one of the highest sturdy-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world.
  • Isotope Production - Researchers use ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, and other hot cell facilities to produce isotopes for industry, national security, medicine, and scientific discovery.
  • MPEX: Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment - ORNL's MPEX is a next-generation linear plasma device that will advance research on the way plasma interacts with materials and components needed for future fusion reactors.
  • National Security Sciences - ORNL’s National Security Sciences Directorate is rapidly advancing the science of resilience, security, and analytics to solve critical challenges in nuclear security, cybersecurity, and human security.
  • Neutron Sciences - Breakthroughs in medicine, energy, technology, and industry follow advances in the understanding of materials. ORNL is at the US epicenter for one of the most powerful techniques for exploring the nature of materials— neutron scattering.
  • Neutron Source: Second Target Station - The STS will enable breakthroughs in many areas of materials research and development and will be uniquely suited to explore complex materials.
  • Nuclear Facilities -  ORNL has a mission to produce isotopes and develop nuclear fuels and other new materials—work enabled by the laboratory’s unique complex of nuclear facilities.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility - Researchers from around the world use the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility to solve problems so challenging they require the world's most powerful computers. OLCF's high-performance computing systems.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility: Frontier - The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at ORNL will be home to one of America’s first exascale systems: Frontier.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility: Summit - ORNL houses Summit, the next leap in leadership-class computing systems for open science.
  • Physical Sciences - Spanning the research spectrum from fundamental research to technology readiness and beyond through materials, chemistry, nuclear physics, and isotopes research and development.
  • Quantum Information Science - Advances in computing, sensing, and networking technologies have defined the last half-century of technological progress. Now an enhanced understanding of the laws of quantum mechanics is enabling a quantum revolution.
  • Quantum Science Center - The Center balances the short-term effort to understand quantum behavior with the long-term goal of achieving major breakthroughs in protecting and using quantum information
  • Radiochemical Engineering Development Center and Hot Cells - ORNL is home to unique, state-of-the-art facilities designed to help deliver on our missions to produce isotopes, nuclear fuels, and other materials. The Radiochemical Engineering Development Center is the largest of those facilities.
  • Spallation Neutron Source - The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is the world’s most powerful accelerator-based neutron source, providing intense neutron beams for scientific research and industrial development.
  • The Future of Nuclear Energy - Nuclear energy provides almost 20% of the electricity in the United States.
  • Transportation Technologies - ORNL is accelerating the pace of research and development for efficient, safe, and secure transportation.
  • Water Power Technologies - ORNL’s water power technologies research focuses on cost reduction and performance improvement to increase power generation at existing hydropower facilities and accelerate sustainable implementation of new facilities.

Partnerships and Collaborative Initiatives

  • Community Engagement - The primary mission of ORNL is to deliver scientific discoveries and technical breakthroughs to help solve the world’s most compelling challenges, but we have an additional mission that is also important—ensuring communities thrive and educational initiatives succeed in East Tennessee and around the world.
  • Distinguished Staff Fellowships - ORNL's Distinguished Staff Fellowship program—a highly competitive, prestigious early-career research opportunity—aims to cultivate future scientific leaders by providing dedicated mentors, resources, and enriching research opportunities at a national laboratory.
  • Exascale Computing Project - High-performance computing (HPC) systems have become critical tools for research in diverse scientific fields and leadership in areas such as national security, manufacturing, and healthcare.
  • Industry Partnerships - ORNL actively seeks and develops industry and technology-transfer partnerships that increase the Lab’s economic impact, accelerate the deployment of ORNL-developed technologies, and strengthen innovation ecosystems regionally and nationally.
  • Innovation Crossroads leverages ORNL’s unique scientific resources and capabilities and connects the nation’s top innovators with experts, mentors, and networks in technology-related fields to take world-changing ideas from research and development to the marketplace.
  • ITER Project for Fusion Energy - Building a sun on earth has the potential to lead to a global paradigm shift for safe and abundant energy.
  • K-12 STEM Education and Outreach - ORNL is committed to serving the public as a valued partner in educational initiatives, promoting and expanding STEM experiences for the next generation.
  • MVP-CHAMPION: Partnership for Veterans - The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with the ORNL to revolutionize the health care of veterans through advanced data analytics and high-performance computing.

Employment

  • Postdoctoral Opportunities - ORNL offers dedicated mentors, world-leading scientific resources, and professional development opportunities to well-qualified PhD students.