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Media Contacts
![Conceptual art depicts an atomic nucleus and merging neutron stars, respectively, areas of study in ORNL-led projects called NUCLEI and ENAF within the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, or SciDAC, program. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/atomic-space-graphic-2_1920_72dpi_0.jpg?h=8a33d6d1&itok=caY64a8z)
ORNL is leading two nuclear physics research projects within the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing, or SciDAC, program from the Department of Energy Office of Science.
![Plutonium oxide is loaded onto a truck for shipping. Adam Parkison/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/PXL_20230620_120836896_0.jpg?h=2848f5af&itok=Nh31DLuy)
In June, ORNL hit a milestone not seen in more than three decades: producing a production-quality amount of plutonium-238
![Scientists conducted microbial DNA sampling at a Yellowstone National Park hot spring for a study sponsored by DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research program, the National Science Foundation and NASA. Credit: Mircea Podar/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/hot-springs_0.png?h=e68b456d&itok=ioNfSScN)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists studied hot springs on different continents and found similarities in how some microbes adapted despite their geographic diversity.
![oxygen isotope 28](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/oxygen-28-square_0.png?h=cd2a7045&itok=kqKmINwS)
Rare isotope oxygen-28 has been determined to be "barely unbound" by experiments led by researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and by computer simulations conducted at ORNL. The findings from this first-ever observation of 28O answer a longstanding question in nuclear physics: can you get bound isotopes in a very neutron-rich region of the nuclear chart, where instability and radioactivity are the norm?
![Madhavi Martin portrait image](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/2023-P09857_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=4QOEKn5k)
Madhavi Martin brings a physicist’s tools and perspective to biological and environmental research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supporting advances in bioenergy, soil carbon storage and environmental monitoring, and even helping solve a murder mystery.
![The OpeN-AM experimental platform, installed at the VULCAN instrument, features a robotic arm that prints layers of molten metal to create complex shapes. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/Picture2.jpg?h=3c75dc16&itok=_NLdJ0Po)
Technologies developed by researchers at ORNL have received six 2023 R&D 100 Awards.
![Diagram of faults affecting a conventional power system.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/23-G04595-line-faults-pcg_0.jpg?h=d48ba2e6&itok=Gc2T0Rmr)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are leading the way in understanding the effects of electrical faults in the modern U.S. power grid.
![A beam of excited sodium-32 nuclei implants in the FRIB Decay Station initiator is used to detect decay signatures of isotopes. Credit: Gary Hollenhead, Toby King and Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/render_03_0.jpg?h=8f74817f&itok=AZQPthBf)
Timothy Gray of ORNL led a study that may have revealed an unexpected change in the shape of an atomic nucleus. The surprise finding could affect our understanding of what holds nuclei together, how protons and neutrons interact and how elements form.
![Ken Engle portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/engle%20profile.jpg?h=72898f5b&itok=ZIKd9Gn1)
It was reading about current nuclear discoveries in textbooks that first made Ken Engle want to work at a national lab. It was seeing the real-world impact of the isotopes produced at ORNL
![Jonathan Harter, a technical professional in ORNL’s Engineering Science and Technology Directorate, uses a robot and other automated methods to disassemble electric vehicle batteries for recycling or reuse in the electric grid. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-08/2021-P06328_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=elZeutaQ)
After being stabilized in an ambulance as he struggled to breathe, Jonathan Harter hit a low point. It was 2020, he was very sick with COVID-19, and his job as a lab technician at ORNL was ending along with his research funding.