Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Isotopes (12)
- Advanced Manufacturing (14)
- Biological Systems (2)
- Biology and Environment (41)
- Building Technologies (2)
- Clean Energy (178)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (4)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (3)
- Computer Science (12)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (14)
- Fusion Energy (7)
- Materials (112)
- Materials for Computing (18)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (12)
- Neutron Science (54)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (19)
- Quantum information Science (6)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (74)
- Transportation Systems (3)
Media Contacts
![The Perseverance rover](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/pia23492_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=A5U6cgBE)
On Feb. 18, the world will be watching as NASA’s Perseverance rover makes its final descent into Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars. Mars 2020 is the first NASA mission that uses plutonium-238 produced at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![ORNL welder Devin Johnson uses a new orbital welder to seal a hollow target in a glovebox in the lab’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center. The new welder makes a clean seam on the metal target, eliminating the need for hand-finishing afterward. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-01/2021-P00359.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=_g8_FpZZ)
A better way of welding targets for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s plutonium-238 production has sped up the process and improved consistency and efficiency. This advancement will ultimately benefit the lab’s goal to make enough Pu-238 – the isotope that powers NASA’s deep space missions – to yield 1.5 kilograms of plutonium oxide annually by 2026.