Researchers tackling national security challenges at ORNL are upholding an 80-year legacy of leadership in all things nuclear. Today, they’re developing the next generation of technologies that will help reduce global nuclear risk and enable safe, secure, peaceful use of nuclear materials, worldwide.
Four ORNL researchers traveled to Warsaw, Poland, during the first week of April to support the opening of Poland’s first Clean Energy Training Center, a regional hub dedicated to providing workforce development and training to expand new nuclear capacity in Central Europe.
Mohamad Zineddin hopes to establish an interdisciplinary center of excellence for nuclear security at ORNL, combining critical infrastructure assessment and protection, risk mitigation, leadership in nuclear security, education and training, nuclear security culture and resilience strategies and techniques.
ORNL scientists contributed to a DOE technical study that found transitioning coal plants to nuclear power plants would create high-paying jobs at the converted plants and hundreds of new jobs locally.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and six other Department of Energy national laboratories have developed a United States-based perspective for achieving net-zero carbon emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the registration and use of a renewable gasoline blendstock developed by Vertimass LLC and ORNL that can significantly reduce the emissions profile of vehicles when added to conventional fuels.
ORNL has named W. David Pointer, director of the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division in ORNL’s Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. As director, Pointer will lead a world-class team of ORNL research professionals focused on addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by current and future nuclear energy systems.
ORNL’s Erin Webb is co-leading a new Circular Bioeconomy Systems Convergent Research Initiative focused on advancing production and use of renewable carbon from Tennessee to meet societal needs.
Canan Karakaya, a R&D Staff member in the Chemical Process Scale-Up group at ORNL, was inspired to become a chemical engineer after she experienced a magical transformation that turned ammonia gas into ammonium nitrate, turning a liquid into white flakes gently floating through the air.
The United States could triple its current bioeconomy by producing more than 1 billion tons per year of plant-based biomass for renewable fuels, while meeting projected demands for food, feed, fiber, conventional forest products and exports, according to the DOE’s latest Billion-Ton Report led by ORNL.