Recent technical enhancements at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor are providing researchers with a more comprehensive suite of characterization tools that could help extend the lives of U.S. light-water reactors. With these new capabilities, scientists can discern microstructural stresses in vessel steels from the microscale - millionths of a meter - to the nanoscale - billionths of a meter. This work is especially significant because nuclear reactors supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity, and recent budget constraints have made extending their lives a key component of the federal government's energy policy. [Contact: Agatha Bardoel, (865) 574-0644; bardoelaa@ornl.gov]
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