Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Fusion Energy (4)
- Advanced Manufacturing (11)
- Biology and Environment (59)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (152)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (2)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (6)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (3)
- Energy Sciences (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (2)
- Fusion and Fission (11)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (27)
- Materials (179)
- Materials Characterization (2)
- Materials for Computing (23)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (31)
- Neutron Science (53)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (12)
- Quantum information Science (9)
- Sensors and Controls (1)
- Supercomputing (98)
- Transportation Systems (1)
News Type
Media Contacts
![HFIR](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/HFIR_0.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=8tMcVdaT)
Creating energy the way the sun and stars do — through nuclear fusion — is one of the grand challenges facing science and technology. What’s easy for the sun and its billions of relatives turns out to be particularly difficult on Earth.
![This simulation of a fusion plasma calculation result shows the interaction of two counter-streaming beams of super-heated gas. Credit: David L. Green/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/Fusion_plasma_simulation.jpg?h=d0852d1e&itok=CDWgjLPL)
The prospect of simulating a fusion plasma is a step closer to reality thanks to a new computational tool developed by scientists in fusion physics, computer science and mathematics at ORNL.
![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.
![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.