Skip to main content
ORNL researcher Brian Williams prepares for a demonstration of a quantum key distribution system. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

An experiment by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated advanced quantum-based cybersecurity can be realized in a deployed fiber link. 

Three staff members in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate (FFESD) have moved into newly established roles facilitating communication and program management with sponsors of the directorate’s Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division.

Three staff members in ORNL’s Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate have moved into newly established roles facilitating communication and program management with sponsors of the directorate’s Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division. 

Naval Academy midshipmen look at tiny particle fuels while touring ORNL. Credit: Lena Shoemaker/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Nuclear engineering students from the United States Military Academy and United States Naval Academy are working with researchers at ORNL to complete design concepts for a nuclear propulsion rocket to go to space in 2027 as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DRACO program.

Luiz Leal portrait

ORNL’s Luiz Leal of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the recipient of the 2023 Seaborg Medal from the American Nuclear Society.

ORNL researcher Anne Campbell will present a paper in Korea next year on materials support of carbon-free nuclear energy. Credit: Adam Malin, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Anne Campbell, a researcher at ORNL, recently won the Young Leaders Professional Development Award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, or TMS, and has been chosen as the first recipient of the Young Leaders International Scholar Program award from TMS and the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials, or KIM.

Photo 1: Event organizers from the Nuclear Energy Fuel Cycle Division. Credit: Carol Morgan/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The heat is on at this year’s Molten Salt Reactor Workshop – where top research and industry minds are melding to advance development on molten salt technology – at ORNL.   

Sam Hollifield displays a prototype of the Secure Hijack, Intrusion and Exploit Layered Detector, or SHIELD, the device monitoring the cybersecurity of the semi-truck. Credit: Lena Shoemaker/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

As vehicles gain technological capabilities, car manufacturers are using an increasing number of computers and sensors to improve situational awareness and enhance the driving experience.

Professional women in the IAEA’s Lise Meitner Programme 2023 cohort and supporters assembled at ORNL. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted the second  2023 cohort of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Lise Meitner Programme in October.

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.

Photo collage with text that reads " A New era of discovery"

ORNL, a bastion of nuclear physics research for the past 80 years, is poised to strengthen its programs and service to the United States over the next decade if national recommendations of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee, or NSAC, are enacted.