![White car (Porsche Taycan) with the hood popped is inside the building with an american flag on the wall.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-06/2024-P09317.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=m6sQhZRq)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Advanced Manufacturing (7)
- (-) Isotopes (27)
- Biological Systems (1)
- Biology and Environment (73)
- Biology and Soft Matter (1)
- Clean Energy (70)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (3)
- Computational Biology (2)
- Computational Engineering (2)
- Computer Science (1)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (2)
- Fusion and Fission (4)
- Fusion Energy (2)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Materials (89)
- Materials Characterization (2)
- Materials for Computing (15)
- Materials Under Extremes (1)
- Mathematics (1)
- National Security (27)
- Neutron Science (31)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (9)
- Quantum information Science (2)
- Supercomputing (80)
News Topics
- (-) Biomedical (5)
- (-) Climate Change (1)
- (-) Cybersecurity (1)
- (-) Isotopes (24)
- (-) Materials (10)
- (-) Space Exploration (5)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (22)
- Advanced Reactors (1)
- Artificial Intelligence (1)
- Bioenergy (1)
- Composites (3)
- Computer Science (2)
- Energy Storage (1)
- Environment (1)
- Fusion (1)
- Irradiation (1)
- Machine Learning (1)
- Materials Science (7)
- National Security (1)
- Neutron Science (2)
- Nuclear Energy (5)
- Security (1)
- Sustainable Energy (5)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (1)
Media Contacts
![Balendra Sutharshan](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-06/2021-P01348.jpg?h=d33ebf6f&itok=qwQNPmu1)
In the mid-1980s, Balendra Sutharshan moved to Canada from the island nation of Sri Lanka. That move set Sutharshan on a path that had him heading continent-spanning collaborations and holding leadership posts at multiple Department of Energy
![Brenda Smith, shown here working with a gas viscometer in her research lab, is one of several people concurrently researching the thermophysical properties of feedstock gas. Their research will support computational researchers who are designing processes to separate isotopes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, US Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-05/2021-P01103_0.jpg?h=13f436e5&itok=lMLI1EqU)
For years Brenda Smith found fulfillment working with nuclear batteries, a topic she’s been researching as a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![Targeted alpha therapy can deliver radiation to specific cells, with minimal effect on surrounding, healthy cells. Credit: Michelle Lehman and Jaimee Janiga/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/gif_high_res.gif?h=ae1281eb&itok=QtNBjm3O)
A rare isotope in high demand for treating cancer is now more available to pharmaceutical companies developing and testing new drugs.
![Technicians John Dyer and T. Dyer use a manipulator arm in a shielded cave in ORNL’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center to separate concentrated Pm-147 from byproducts generated through the production of Pu-238.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/Promethium%20feature_0.jpg?h=a1f525db&itok=6XSsJdot)
A new method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory proves one effort’s trash is another’s valuable isotope. One of the byproducts of the lab’s national plutonium-238 production program is promethium-147, a rare isotope used in nuclear batteries and to measure the thickness of materials.
![ORNL researchers used gas metal arc welding additive technology to print the die for a B-pillar or vertical roof support structure for a sport utility vehicle, demonstrating a 20% improvement in the cooling rate. Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-02/Hot_stamping_die_0.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=p2mbmEaN)
A team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers demonstrated that an additively manufactured hot stamping die – a tool used to create car body components – cooled faster than those produced by conventional manufacturing methods.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory entrance sign](/themes/custom/ornl/images/default-thumbnail.jpg)
Balendra Sutharshan, deputy associate laboratory director for operational systems at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has joined ORNL as associate laboratory director for the Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate.
![The Perseverance rover](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/pia23492_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=A5U6cgBE)
On Feb. 18, the world will be watching as NASA’s Perseverance rover makes its final descent into Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars. Mars 2020 is the first NASA mission that uses plutonium-238 produced at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![ORNL welder Devin Johnson uses a new orbital welder to seal a hollow target in a glovebox in the lab’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center. The new welder makes a clean seam on the metal target, eliminating the need for hand-finishing afterward. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-01/2021-P00359.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=_g8_FpZZ)
A better way of welding targets for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s plutonium-238 production has sped up the process and improved consistency and efficiency. This advancement will ultimately benefit the lab’s goal to make enough Pu-238 – the isotope that powers NASA’s deep space missions – to yield 1.5 kilograms of plutonium oxide annually by 2026.
![Small, 3D-printed neutron collimators, designed by ORNL’s Jamie Molaison, yield reduced costs and manufacturing times and could enable new types of experiments. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-01/2018-P07649%203D%20printed%20Collimator_BL-3-6177R_sm_0.jpg?h=49ab6177&itok=lesrnsHF)
The ExOne Company, the global leader in industrial sand and metal 3D printers using binder jetting technology, announced it has reached a commercial license agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to 3D print parts in aluminum-infiltrated boron carbide.
![Brian Damiano](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-12/2016-P04442.jpg?h=49ab6177&itok=lPIC-H6L)
Brian Damiano, head of the Centrifuge Engineering and Fabrication Section, has been elected fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.