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Three visitors are standing off to the right, listening to a researcher speak to them in the Molten Salt Lab at ORNL

During a recent visit to ORNL, several OASA (IE&E) representatives explored the ORNL’s leadership in advanced nuclear energy development to inform the design and construction of a microreactor to power mission-critical facilities at two Army bases. 

Three researchers are in a lab pointing to a square machine in the middle of the lab.

Professionals from government and industry gathered at ORNL for the Nondestructive Assay Holdup Measurements Training Course for Nuclear Criticality Safety, a hands-on training in nondestructive assay, a technique for detecting and quantifying holdup without disturbing operations. 

Secretary Wright leans over red computer door, signing with silver sharpie as ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer looks on

During his first visit to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Energy Secretary Chris Wright compared the urgency of the Lab’s World War II beginnings to today’s global race to lead in artificial intelligence, calling for a “Manhattan Project 2.”

Illustration of a quantum experiment: atoms in a lattice (inset) with entanglement effects radiating from a central particle on a textured surface.

Working at nanoscale dimensions, billionths of a meter in size, a team of scientists led by ORNL revealed a new way to measure high-speed fluctuations in magnetic materials. Knowledge obtained by these new measurements could be used to advance technologies ranging from traditional computing to the emerging field of quantum computing. 

This is an image of a photon chip, it's a black background with green squiggle lines across it, with two blue lines running horizontally in the middle with an inch in between.

Quantum information scientists at ORNL successfully demonstrated a device that combines key quantum photonic capabilities on a single chip for the first time.

Close up image of Quantum Science Center poster with the QSC logo.

Registration for the Quantum Science Center’s Summer School is open now through Feb. 28, 2025. Conducted in partnership with the Quantum Science Center at ORNL, this year’s summer school will be hosted at the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute Apr. 21 through Apr. 25, 2025, on the Purdue University campus.

Image of four tall blocks creating a square with each block a different color, two gray, one green and one blue. That shape is sitting on a flat set of squares rotating the same color pattern

A recent study led by quantum researchers at ORNL proved popular among the science community interested in building a more reliable quantum network. The study, led by ORNL’s Hsuan-Hao Lu, details development of a novel quantum gate that operates between two photonic degrees of freedom — polarization and frequency. 

quantum network illustration

Researchers at ORNL joined forces with EPB of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to demonstrate the first transmission of an entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over a commercial network with no downtime.

Two pictures of a rounded triangle shape are shown in mirror image. The left is white with red and purple spots in the middle while the one on the right is purple with a yellow and blue ring in the middle

Scientists designing the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion power plant, ITER, needed to solve the problem of runaway electrons, negatively charged particles in the soup of matter in the plasma within the tokamak, the magnetic bottle intended to contain the massive energy produced. Simulations performed on Summit, the 200-petaflop supercomputer at ORNL, could offer the first step toward a solution.

ORNL’s Askin Guler Yigitoglu presents during the 2024 Molten Salt Reactor Workshop in Knoxville with a green and blue background

ORNL’s annual workshop has become the premier forum for molten salt reactor, or MSR, collaboration and innovation, convening industry, academia and government experts to further advance MSR research and development. This year’s event attracted a record-breaking 365 participants from across the country, highlighting the momentum to bring MSRs online.