Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Nuclear Science and Technology (26)
- Advanced Manufacturing (22)
- Biology and Environment (101)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Building Technologies (1)
- Clean Energy (151)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (5)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (3)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion and Fission (28)
- Fusion Energy (13)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (26)
- Materials (121)
- Materials Characterization (1)
- Materials for Computing (17)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (28)
- Neutron Science (38)
- Quantum information Science (2)
- Supercomputing (50)
- Transportation Systems (1)
News Topics
- (-) 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (4)
- (-) Cybersecurity (1)
- (-) Environment (1)
- (-) Fusion (8)
- (-) Isotopes (5)
- (-) Materials Science (3)
- (-) Molten Salt (4)
- (-) Space Exploration (5)
- Advanced Reactors (11)
- Bioenergy (1)
- Biomedical (2)
- Computer Science (2)
- Coronavirus (1)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Neutron Science (5)
- Nuclear Energy (36)
- Physics (2)
- Sustainable Energy (1)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
Media Contacts
![At the U.S. Department of Energy Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, this part for a scaled-down prototype of a reactor was produced for industry partner Kairos Power.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/Kairos%20PI%201_0.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=EYVPB9H3)
Scientists at the Department of Energy Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL have their eyes on the prize: the Transformational Challenge Reactor, or TCR, a microreactor built using 3D printing and other new approaches that will be up and running by 2023.
![Transformational Challenge Reactor Demonstration items](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/Press_release_image.jpg?h=b707efd5&itok=-Sxbmt8D)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are refining their design of a 3D-printed nuclear reactor core, scaling up the additive manufacturing process necessary to build it, and developing methods
![Nuclear – Finally, a benchmark](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/67051_0.jpg?h=add82d74&itok=xR-EnPtz)
In the 1960s, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's four-year Molten Salt Reactor Experiment tested the viability of liquid fuel reactors for commercial power generation. Results from that historic experiment recently became the basis for the first-ever molten salt reactor benchmark.
![Kat Royston](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/Kat%20Royston%20profile_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=WTyE2n4S)
As a teenager, Kat Royston had a lot of questions. Then an advanced-placement class in physics convinced her all the answers were out there.
![Postdoctoral researcher Nischal Kafle positions a component for a portable plasma imaging diagnostic device at ORNL in February. The device, a project for ARPA-E, is built of off-the-shelf parts. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/2020-P00808.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=TGI-lQiS)
The techniques Theodore Biewer and his colleagues are using to measure whether plasma has the right conditions to create fusion have been around awhile.
![The agreement builds upon years of collaboration, including a 2016 effort using modeling tools developed at ORNL to predict the first six months of operations of TVA’s Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear power plant. Credit: Andrew Godfrey/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/wb2_xenon_1.png?h=19940d61&itok=Da4pDLde)
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 19, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate a new generation of flexible, cost-effective advanced nuclear reactors.
![Argon pellet injection text](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-11/13966_Ar_20degree_enhanced_0.jpg?h=8450e950&itok=tmff0GX_)
As scientists study approaches to best sustain a fusion reactor, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory investigated injecting shattered argon pellets into a super-hot plasma, when needed, to protect the reactor’s interior wall from high-energy runaway electrons.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed an experiment for testing potential materials for use in interplanetary travel. The experiment exposes prototype materials to temperatures over 2,400 degrees Celsius with only 300 watts of input electrical power. Credit: Carlos Jones, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-11/2019-P14907%5B2%5D_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=qX3QY9Pm)
If humankind reaches Mars this century, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed experiment testing advanced materials for spacecraft may play a key role.
![Nuclear—Deep space travel Nuclear—Deep space travel](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Screen%20Shot%202018-12-19%20at%2010.29.32%20AM.png?itok=hq0dlVIf)
By automating the production of neptunium oxide-aluminum pellets, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have eliminated a key bottleneck when producing plutonium-238 used by NASA to fuel deep space exploration.
![exp_in_10_dry_tube.jpg exp_in_10_dry_tube.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/exp_in_10_dry_tube.jpg?itok=cmBuu2CQ)
Scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed a corrosion test in a neutron radiation field to support the continued development of molten salt reactors.