A modeling analysis led by ORNL gives the first detailed look at how geothermal energy can relieve the electric power system and reduce carbon emissions if widely implemented across the United States within the next few decades.
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.
New computational framework speeds discovery of fungal metabolites, key to plant health and used in drug therapies and for other uses.
In summer 2023, ORNL's Prasanna Balaprakash was invited to speak at a roundtable discussion focused on the importance of academic artificial intelligence research and development hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Jack Orebaugh, a forensic anthropology major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has a big heart for families with missing loved ones. When someone disappears in an area of dense vegetation, search and recovery efforts can be difficult, especially when a missing person’s last location is unknown. Recognizing the agony of not knowing what happened to a family or friend, Orebaugh decided to use his internship at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to find better ways to search for lost and deceased people using cameras and drones.
The 2023 top science achievements from HFIR and SNS feature a broad range of materials research published in high impact journals such as Nature and Advanced Materials.
Drawing from his experience during the pandemic, Domenick Leto recognizes the need for the United States to have inexpensive, reliable capabilities to combat any type of disruption to national security, including nationwide medical emergencies. Leto and colleagues received a patent for a simple, inexpensive way to sterilize masks, plastic, and medical equipment from the COVID-19 virus.
Researchers at ORNL became the first to 3D-print large rotating steam turbine blades for generating energy in power plants.
For years, Duane Starr led workshops at ORNL to help others from across the U.S. government understand uranium processing technologies. After his retirement, Starr donated a 5-foot-tall working model, built in his garage, that demonstrates vibration harmonics, consistent with operation of a super critical gas centrifuge rotor, a valuable resource to ongoing ORNL-led workshops.
Scientists from more than a dozen institutions have completed a first-of-its-kind high-resolution assessment of carbon dioxide removal potential in the United States, charting a path to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050.