Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Materials (8)
- Advanced Manufacturing (1)
- Biology and Environment (44)
- Building Technologies (3)
- Clean Energy (55)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (2)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (10)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Fusion and Fission (5)
- Fusion Energy (6)
- Materials for Computing (2)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (8)
- Neutron Science (1)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (5)
- Quantum information Science (3)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (21)
News Type
News Topics
- (-) Buildings (1)
- (-) Clean Water (1)
- (-) Computer Science (1)
- (-) Fusion (3)
- (-) Molten Salt (1)
- (-) Quantum Science (1)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (6)
- Advanced Reactors (1)
- Bioenergy (2)
- Biomedical (2)
- Chemical Sciences (6)
- Composites (4)
- Coronavirus (1)
- Critical Materials (5)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Energy Storage (8)
- Environment (2)
- Isotopes (2)
- Materials (15)
- Materials Science (25)
- Microscopy (9)
- Nanotechnology (12)
- Neutron Science (6)
- Nuclear Energy (5)
- Physics (8)
- Polymers (8)
- Quantum Computing (2)
- Space Exploration (1)
- Sustainable Energy (3)
- Transportation (6)
Media Contacts
![Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed an eco-friendly foam insulation for improved building efficiency. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/foam_thumbnail.png?h=b6717701&itok=O0z-knmD)
Scientists at ORNL developed a competitive, eco-friendly alternative made without harmful blowing agents.
![Researchers captured atomic-level insights on the rare-earth mineral monazite to inform future design of flotation collector molecules, illustrated above, that can aid in the recovery of critical materials. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/float.jpg?h=60f9f39d&itok=i2CRqyBK)
Critical Materials Institute researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Arizona State University studied the mineral monazite, an important source of rare-earth elements, to enhance methods of recovering critical materials for energy, defense and manufacturing applications.
![When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/variation.jpg?h=bedff801&itok=9S6jmOVH)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.
![Tungsten tiles for fusion](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-07/EBM-tungsten_tiles_ORNL.png?h=0c890573&itok=XgIsl0tA)
Using additive manufacturing, scientists experimenting with tungsten at Oak Ridge National Laboratory hope to unlock new potential of the high-performance heat-transferring material used to protect components from the plasma inside a fusion reactor. Fusion requires hydrogen isotopes to reach millions of degrees.
![Desalination process](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-07/hydrophopicDesal04_0.jpg?h=5473d993&itok=bUBkpGOa)
A new method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory improves the energy efficiency of a desalination process known as solar-thermal evaporation.
![An ORNL-developed graphite foam, which could be used in plasma-facing components in fusion reactors, performed well during testing at the Wendlestein 7-X stellarator in Germany.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-02/W7-XPlasmaExposure_0.jpg?h=d5d04e3b&itok=uKiauhdF)
Scientists have tested a novel heat-shielding graphite foam, originally created at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, at Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X stellarator with promising results for use in plasma-facing components of fusion reactors.
![At the salt–metal interface, thermodynamic forces drive chromium from the bulk of a nickel alloy, leaving a porous, weakened layer. Impurities in the salt drive further corrosion of the structural material. Credit: Stephen Raiman/Oak Ridge National Labora At the salt–metal interface, thermodynamic forces drive chromium from the bulk of a nickel alloy, leaving a porous, weakened layer. Impurities in the salt drive further corrosion of the structural material. Credit: Stephen Raiman/Oak Ridge National Labora](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/story%20tip%20image%20BW%20only.jpg?itok=Vbc0iTLt)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists analyzed more than 50 years of data showing puzzlingly inconsistent trends about corrosion of structural alloys in molten salts and found one factor mattered most—salt purity.
![Lauren Garrison Lauren Garrison](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2015-P03829.jpg?itok=7aYmdo0N)
The materials inside a fusion reactor must withstand one of the most extreme environments in science, with temperatures in the thousands of degrees Celsius and a constant bombardment of neutron radiation and deuterium and tritium, isotopes of hydrogen, from the volatile plasma at th...