Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Clean Energy (89)
- (-) Fusion and Fission (31)
- (-) Supercomputing (84)
- Advanced Manufacturing (2)
- Biology and Environment (23)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (6)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (1)
- Energy Sciences (1)
- Fuel Cycle Science and Technology (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (2)
- Fusion Energy (11)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (4)
- Materials (94)
- Materials for Computing (13)
- National Security (11)
- Neutron Science (29)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (36)
- Nuclear Systems Modeling, Simulation and Validation (1)
- Quantum information Science (9)
News Topics
- (-) Energy Storage (76)
- (-) Nanotechnology (16)
- (-) Nuclear Energy (34)
- (-) Quantum Science (25)
- (-) Summit (43)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (80)
- Advanced Reactors (10)
- Artificial Intelligence (41)
- Big Data (24)
- Bioenergy (29)
- Biology (20)
- Biomedical (23)
- Biotechnology (6)
- Buildings (37)
- Chemical Sciences (19)
- Clean Water (8)
- Climate Change (35)
- Composites (17)
- Computer Science (107)
- Coronavirus (25)
- Critical Materials (13)
- Cybersecurity (14)
- Decarbonization (36)
- Environment (69)
- Exascale Computing (24)
- Fossil Energy (2)
- Frontier (29)
- Fusion (23)
- Grid (42)
- High-Performance Computing (40)
- Hydropower (2)
- Isotopes (2)
- ITER (6)
- Machine Learning (19)
- Materials (46)
- Materials Science (42)
- Mathematics (3)
- Mercury (3)
- Microelectronics (1)
- Microscopy (15)
- Molten Salt (1)
- National Security (11)
- Net Zero (5)
- Neutron Science (21)
- Partnerships (13)
- Physics (8)
- Polymers (13)
- Quantum Computing (19)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (9)
- Simulation (19)
- Software (1)
- Space Exploration (6)
- Statistics (1)
- Sustainable Energy (73)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
- Transportation (70)
Media Contacts
![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.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-02/3_people_spacing.jpg?h=08ef668f&itok=33PRJFyS)
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.
![Caption: Jaswinder Sharma makes battery coin cells with a lightweight current collector made of thin layers of aligned carbon fibers in a polymer with carbon nanotubes. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/sharma1_1.jpg?h=f7dae89e&itok=JiSsMewF)
Electric vehicles can drive longer distances if their lithium-ion batteries deliver more energy in a lighter package. A prime weight-loss candidate is the current collector, a component that often adds 10% to the weight of a battery cell without contributing energy.
![Alexey Serov researches ways to improve hydrogen fuel cells and materials and the electrolysis process. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P14038.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=JCWAG0sI)
It would be a challenge for any scientist to match Alexey Serov’s rate of inventions related to green hydrogen fuel. But this researcher at ORNL has 84 patents with at least 35 more under review, so his electrifying pace is unlikely to slow down any time soon.
![ORNL researchers Lu Yu and Yaocai Bai examine vials that contain a chemical solution that causes the cobalt and lithium to separate from a spent battery, followed by a second stage when cobalt precipitates in the bottom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/2023-P12386_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CVJOHRVM)
Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries.
![red and green sphagnum moss](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/2022-P05000_0.jpg?h=971886de&itok=7xwMranw)
A type of peat moss has surprised scientists with its climate resilience: Sphagnum divinum is actively speciating in response to hot, dry conditions.
![The sun sets behind the ORNL Visitor Center in this aerial photo from April 2023. Credit: Kase Clapp/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/sunset_visitor-center_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=jLImPT0R)
In fiscal year 2023 — Oct. 1–Sept. 30, 2023 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory was awarded more than $8 million in technology maturation funding through the Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund, or TCF.
![Photo 1: Event organizers from the Nuclear Energy Fuel Cycle Division. Credit: Carol Morgan/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/2023-p15692.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=ommiWsy2)
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.
![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](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/2023-P14921.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=EUxRbkj2)
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.
![The image conceptualizes the processing, structure and mechanical behavior of glassy ion conductors for solid state lithium batteries. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/SSB%20image_0.jpg?h=9d172ced&itok=o6AXEIXc)
As current courses through a battery, its materials erode over time. Mechanical influences such as stress and strain affect this trajectory, although their impacts on battery efficacy and longevity are not fully understood.
![ORNL’s David Sholl is director of the new DOE Energy Earthshot Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions center to help decarbonize the industrial chemical industry. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2021-P04915.David_.Sholl_.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=qT7ZMJX2)
ORNL has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center, or EERC, focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.