Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In 1938, the scientific discovery of nuclear fission in Germany inspires teams of European and US scientists to pursue a nuclear chain reaction that can produce large amounts of energy. But with the rise of World War II the following year, US physicists fear the discovery may be weaponized, and they implore President Franklin Roosevelt to mobilize support for the rapid research efforts taking place. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and US entry into the war, a secret government project is created to build a nuclear fission bomb and end a brutal war. Central to this ambitious war effort is an agricultural valley in East Tennessee that will change forever.

At the urging of fellow physicists Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner (future ORNL research director), Albert Einstein writes to President Franklin Roosevelt in August warning of the possible development by Germany of "extremely powerful bombs of a new type" and advising the US to accelerate research on nuclear chain reactions.

The Army Corps of Engineers forms the Manhattan Engineer District—known as the Manhattan Project—to manage the construction of plants for producing fissionable materials. By September, General Leslie Groves takes charge and makes the decision to buy 59,000 acres of land in East Tennessee that will come to be known as Oak Ridge and house the K-25 and Y-12 sites to separate uranium and the X-10 site to demonstrate plutonium production and separation.

General Leslie Groves directs DuPont to mobilize construction and support personnel to build a facility in Oak Ridge that includes an air-cooled graphite reactor and a plutonium-separation pilot plant. The purpose of the facility is to demonstrate plutonium production and separation, and Groves directs the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory to supply the managers and scientists to operate it. On February 2, groundbreaking takes place at the X-10 site that is known today as Oak Ridge National Laboratory or ORNL.

In the early morning hours of November 4, Louis Slotin wakes Nobel laureates Arthur Compton and Enrico Fermi. They race in the dark to the Graphite Reactor and witness it going critical at 5:00 a.m., converting uranium into plutonium. The world's first operational nuclear reactor, the Graphite Reactor serves as a plutonium production pilot plant during World War II. It operates until November 1963, pioneering the production of radioisotopes, studies of radiation damage in materials, and development of neutron diffraction as a research tool.

Following experiments at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory and ORNL, some of which include the use of water lattices, Alvin Weinberg writes to research director Richard Doan on September 18 to suggest high-pressure water as both a coolant and a moderator for a power reactor. Many of the techniques devised during the experiments are applied broadly, and the pressurized water reactor concept becomes the standard for naval propulsion and for most commercial nuclear power plants.

While working at the Graphite Reactor, Jacob Marinsky and Lawrence Glendenin produce the rare-earth element 61, promethium. They do so through uranium fission and by bombarding neodymium with neutrons from fissioning uranium in the reactor. Promethium-147 is later used in nuclear-powered batteries for instruments in guided missiles.

While working at the Graphite Reactor, Jacob Marinsky and Lawrence Glendenin produce the rare-earth element 61, promethium. They do so through uranium fission and by bombarding neodymium with neutrons from fissioning uranium in the reactor. Promethium-147 is later used in nuclear-powered batteries for instruments in guided missiles.

Oak Ridgers celebrate the end of World War II, which followed the detonation of the world’s first nuclear weapons over two Japanese cities: “Little Boy” at Hiroshima and “Fat Man” at Nagasaki. The X-10 facilities served as a pilot plant for the massive plutonium production complex built at Hanford, Washington, which supplied the plutonium used in the “Fat Man” bomb.

Ernest Wollan and Clifford Shull begin a systematic investigation of neutron diffraction in 1946, and their exploration of the structure and characteristics of materials using neutron scattering becomes a foundation for conducting materials science. Among their achievements, they produce the first neutron diffraction pattern of a sodium chloride crystal and of polycrystalline manganese oxide, and they also make the first neutron radiograph.

Chemical engineer and physicist Eugene Wigner serves as director for research and development at ORNL from 1946 to 1949, helping develop research reactors, establish nuclear science training, and coordinate scientific research with universities in the South. Also during his tenure at ORNL, Wigner leads design of the Materials Test Reactor that is built in Idaho and operational in 1952. His fuel element design is used in subsequent reactors throughout the world. Wigner is awarded half of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles." 

ORNL elevates research efforts to protect people from exposure to unsafe levels of radiation, focusing on radiation tolerance, radiation protection services and training, and the development of new methods to measure radiation exposure. At the same time, concerns about health effects of radiation from reactors, atomic weapons testing, and radioactive elements that enter the body spur the development of a broad biological research program.

The first official shipment of a radioisotope produced at a nuclear reactor, carbon-14, is produced at the Graphite Reactor and shipped to Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital in St. Louis in August 1946. During the program’s first year, more than 1,000 shipments of 60 different radioisotopes are used for cancer treatment and as tracers for academic, industrial, and agricultural research. Thousands of radioisotope shipments from the Graphite Reactor will occur between 1946 and 1963.

The US Army Air Force starts the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft project. The Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program is a follow-on in 1951. ORNL supports both with responsibilities including the Aircraft Reactor Experiment as well as research into shielding, heat transfer, metallurgy and materials, and radiation damage. Before being canceled in 1961, ANP drives ORNL to design and construct multiple nuclear reactors, adopt high-speed digital computers, and acquire particle accelerators for nuclear physics.

To support the lab’s nuclear-powered aircraft research, a Mathematics and Computing Science Section forms within the Physics Division with an early focus on radiation shielding research. ORNL also obtains its first computer, a matrix multiplier to solve linear equations. It’s known as SPEC–special purpose electronic computer.

A Graphite Reactor experiment in August results in the first nuclear power produced in the world as electricity. A crew of operators and engineers inserts an aluminum can of uranium fuel slugs into a side hole of the reactor connected to a water supply. The resulting steam drives a small steam engine generator which, in turn, generates a small amount of energy required to light a flashlight bulb.

Biophysicist Alvin Weinberg succeeds Eugene Wigner as director for research and development in 1949. He serves as laboratory director from 1955 to 1973, the longest tenure of any director. Championing ORNL’s post-war role in reactor development and the peaceful use of atomic energy, Weinberg also leads the lab through diversification into non-nuclear areas of research and development.  A scientific adviser to presidents, Weinberg is also responsible for the national institution of centers to capture, organize, and disseminate scientific knowledge and information.

Plutonium and Uranium Extraction—or PUREX—process used to extract and refine nuclear material for use in nuclear reactors and weapons is developed. It becomes the basis for nuclear reprocessing techniques used worldwide.

Researchers develop analytical separation of the components of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) based on principles developed during the Manhattan Project. This technology is basic to the subsequent explosive growth of DNA and RNA biochemistry and molecular genetics

The Low-Intensity Test Reactor (LITR) experiments establish the feasibility of water-cooled reactors and become one of the design prototypes for commercial nuclear power plants. At LITR, the blue Cerenkov glow of a nuclear reaction underwater is photographed for the first time in 1950. Cerenkov radiation is important to medical imaging, spent fuel rod evaluation, and other means of detection and tracking. LITR operates from 1950 to 1968.

Pioneering research on naval nuclear reactors leads to the 1950 startup of the Bulk Shielding Reactor, a "swimming pool" reactor primarily used for radiation shielding and materials irradiation effects studies that operates at 2 megawatts until 1991. Because "swimming pool" reactors are less expensive and less complex to operate than other models, they become a favorite for small research facilities and universities, and dozens are built around the world.

Arthur Snell and Frances Pleasonton measure the half-life of neutrons to provide the first experimental proof that a neutron decays into a proton, electron, and electron antineutrino.

ORNL begins production of the nickel-63 isotope that is now used in airport detectors to prevent terrorism. Today, ORNL is the only known producer of this isotope.

Clifford Shull, Wilbur Strauser, and Ernest Wollan use neutrons to reveal the magnetic structure of manganese oxide, providing the first direct evidence of the antiferromagnetism predicted by Louis Néel. In an antiferromagnetic material, the spins of neighboring atoms in a crystalline lattice point in opposite directions. This property has been exploited to deliver advanced technologies for processing and storing information.  The experiment is also instrumental in leading to the concept of broken symmetry that subsequently found widespread application in many areas of physics ranging from materials to cosmology.

President Harry Truman selects ORNL nurse Doris Scott to serve on the Industrial Health Section of the President’s Commission for Health.  The committee’s purpose is to inventory and study national health needs and related education.

Based on results of studies with mice, Liane and Bill Russell—a husband-and-wife research team—inform the medical community that the prenatal stage at which radiation is introduced strongly influences the amount and type of damage to the human embryo and fetus. They make specific recommendations on avoiding risks to human pregnancies from diagnostic X-rays that are then adopted worldwide.

The Homogeneous Reactor Experiment (HRE) goes critical on April 15. It is a small reactor that operates at a maximum 1.6 megawatts and drives a small steam turbine generator. HRE ceases operations in 1954 and is followed by the second-generation Homogeneous Reactor Test (HRT) that operates up to 5 megawatts from December 1957 until April 1961. 

US Navy Captain Hyman Rickover, a graduate of the Clinton Training School, approaches ORNL in 1947 to assist in development of the USS Nautilus, the Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine; it is built using Alvin Weinberg's pressurized-water reactor concept and launches on January 21, 1954. Pressurized-water reactors become the standard for naval propulsion. Rickover later becomes known as the "father” of the nuclear navy, serving as its director from 1950 to 1981.

The Oak Ridge Automatic Computer and Logical Engine (ORACLE) is the fastest and largest data storage computer on the planet at the time, with a peak rate of 14 kiloflops (1,000 floating-point operations per second). It has an original storage capacity of 1,024 words of 40 bits each and contains a magnetic-tape auxiliary memory.

The Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE), a molten salt reactor design with a beryllium oxide reflector, begins operation as part of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program. Though it operates only during November 3–12, 1954, ARE leads to the development of several reactors, including the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment.

An ecology program is established to study the effects of radiation on forest insects and the biological uptake of fission products in the laboratory. In late 1955, the program is redirected to a field research effort oriented toward radioactive waste disposal and contamination problems in the context of ecological science. Ecology work expands into what is now recognized as environmental studies.

Operational from 1954 to 1958, Tower Shielding Reactor (TSR) 1 is a reactor core in a vessel hoisted in the air and supported by four towers to study aircraft reactor shielding materials and configurations. Operational in 1958, the more compact TSR 2 also is contained in a vessel hoisted in the air. Although aircraft reactor work ceases in 1961, TSR 2 is useful to other studies and operates at up to 2 megawatts until 1992.

ORNL constructs the Geneva Reactor for the first International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. It becomes the prototype for future "swimming pool" reactors fueled with low-enriched uranium. President Eisenhower inspects it during the conference, and US television networks air highlights. After the conference, the reactor is sold to the Swiss government, moved to Würenlingen, and named SAPHIR for its blue glow. It operates until 1994.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visits ORNL and other locations in 1955 as a guest of the Oak Ridge Chapter of the American Association of University Women.
 

Elliot Volkin and Larry Astrachan discover messenger RNA, which "reads" DNA's genetic code and becomes a template for mass-producing proteins.

A National Academy of Sciences Committee uses ORNL-generated mouse data to formulate projections for the genetic effects of radiation in humans. National and international organizations rely on ORNL data for recommendations of human radiation exposure limits.

Rufus Ritchie discovers the surface plasmon, a collective mode of coherent electron oscillations that exist at the interface of two materials. Surface plasmons become a significant part of condensed matter physics and are used for surface plasmon resonance to measure nanometer changes in material properties. Ritchie is nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theoretical work on surface plasmonics.

An ORNL-developed conceptual design for a compact pressurized-water Army Package Power Reactor that can be transported to remote locations where other fuel is not readily available is constructed at Fort Belvoir in Virginia and goes critical in April 1957. The Army goes on to build eight other compact reactors of various designs.

ORNL displays two full-scale working models of its Direct Current Experiment, a magnetic mirror fusion device, at the 1958 United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. Afterward, multiple nations draw on the laboratory's experience and build similar machines that are fundamental tools for fusion research.

Liane Russell and colleagues discover that maleness in a mouse depends on the presence of the Y chromosome and is unrelated to the number of X chromosomes. She reveals the next year that only one of the two X chromosomes of a mammalian female is active.

In February 1959, Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie visit the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, the major world supplier of radioisotopes. Operational from 1958 to 1987, its other research uses include neutron scattering, investigating metals and ceramics behaviors under radiation, and testing materials for reactor fuel elements and fusion devices. 

ORNL participates in the power plant design for the N.S. Savannah. Launched on July 21, 1959, the 21,000-ton ship, propelled by a pressurized-water reactor, demonstrates the feasibility of commercial ships propelled by nuclear energy.

P.R. Bell and Casimir Borkowski develop the pocket screamer that is supplied as needed to laboratory personnel working with reactors and hot cells. A compact personal radiation monitor, the pocket screamer is worn and it chirps and flashes at a speed proportional to gamma dosage rate. 

As the nuclear industry becomes more industrialized, ORNL enters a time of change and begins to diversify its research portfolio beyond nuclear science. Researchers find new ways to apply the physical sciences stemming from reactor development and nuclear research to solving the challenges of rising energy demand and conservation. Research in the ecological and biological sciences grows. Environmental movements, an oil crisis, formation of the Department of Energy, and new policies drive ORNL to study non-nuclear energy sources and innovative ways to reduce energy consumption and improve efficiencies.

ORNL scientists at the Bulk Shielding Reactor devise a neutron transmutation doping (NTD) method in 1961 for uniformly distributing phosphorus ions in silicon. This method will result in the annual worldwide production of more than 100 tons of NTD silicon for use in electronic components.

A team led by Norman Anderson demonstrates that rapidly spinning centrifuge technology previously developed to produce enriched uranium for nuclear reactor fuel can purify vaccines by removing foreign proteins that can cause side effects in immunized patients. By 1967, commercial zonal centrifuges based on the ORNL invention produce safer vaccines for millions of people.

While researching radiation damage in crystalline materials, ORNL researchers run computer simulations that reveal the ion channeling effect. The discovery leads to ion implantation science and advancements in semiconductor materials. For example, in the 1970s the combination of ion implantation doping and laser annealing is applied to prepare silicon for solar cell fabrication. It also spurs studies that lead to the development of rapid thermal annealing, a process widely used in the semiconductor industry.

Operational from 1963 to 1987, the Health Physics Research Reactor is used for dosimeter development, training in radiation dosimetry and nuclear engineering, simulation of human-body exposure, radiobiology studies with plants and animals, simulation of nuclear weapon and accident spectra, and testing of radiation alarms. The dosimetry and human-body experiments are particularly valuable in the setting of radiation exposure limits. 

ORNL researchers discover the biochemical mechanisms by which DNA is repaired after being damaged by environmental insult or intrinsic thermal reactions. Dysfunction of this DNA repair system is the basis of the human genetic disease xeroderma pigmentosum, in which patients are at risk for skin cancer when exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight.

Desalination technologies

With the Aircraft Reactor Experiment showing the feasibility of molten salt fuel, the Atomic Energy Commission funds the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) to demonstrate key elements needed for a civilian power reactor. The MSRE goes critical using uranium-235 on June 1. On October 2, 1968, MSRE becomes the first reactor to operate using uranium-233. Although the reactor shuts down in December 1969, renewed interest in the technology resurfaces over 40 years later.

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) achieves criticality in August 1965. HFIR is designed to produce super heavy elements such as californium, and its intense neutron beams also are applied to materials studies. HFIR becomes a user facility when the National Center for Small-Angle Scattering Research opens in 1980, and continues to operate today, providing one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world.

ORNL researcher develops the Oak Ridge Thermal Ellipsoid Plot (ORTEP) computer program that produces accurate three-dimensional line drawings of complex crystal structures in a fraction of the time required to draw the figures by hand. With multiple releases since its introduction, the program continues to be a valuable resource to scientists at ORNL and throughout the world by making crystal structure illustrations readily available for publications and improving how audiences visualize the atomic world.
 

ORNL develops the KENO Monte Carlo code for use in nuclear criticality safety assessments and provides benchmark data against which the computer code calculations can be checked. This technology leads to future significant code enhancements and additional validation, including simulating the pin powers of the AP1000 nuclear reactor.  

ORNL launches a series of multidisciplinary seminars that address environmental issues and the general role of science in the formation of public policy. These seminars help shape the laboratory's direction in environmental studies and Director Alvin Weinberg's formation of a National Environmental Concept Committee that conceives of the need for national environmental laboratories.

ORNL expertise supports man's first walk on the Moon in a variety of ways. Researchers help design a lunar rock scoop for Apollo 11 astronauts as well as a vacuum-sealed box for housing rock samples collected on the Moon in July 1969. Afterward, an ORNL team analyzes the rocks and publishes the results in the "Moon Issue" of <em>Science</em> in 1970. As part of their study, the team members assayed lunar samples for uranium, thorium, and other indicators of the rock's age.

The National Science Foundation funds ORNL studies that examine ways to reduce energy demand by promoting energy conservation. Researchers emphasize the importance of better home insulation and conclude that increasing the efficiency of transportation and home appliances could significantly lower levels of energy consumption. Other conservation efforts include work to reduce energy used by industry and energy used for sewage treatment. 

The Aquatic Ecology Laboratory is established to study data on the effects of water temperature on fish. Leading up to the opening, research led by ORNL's Chuck Coutant concerning the effects of heated water discharged from power plant cooling systems on fish and other aquatic life is reflected in the Clean Water Act of 1970 and the Environmental Protection Agency's implementation document.

In the laboratory’s pursuit of fusion energy, its first tokamak, ORMAK, begins operations in 1971. ORMAK eventually achieves a plasma temperature of 20 million degrees, approaching record temperatures that are needed for self-sustaining fusion reactions.

Researchers freeze, thaw, and implant mouse embryos in surrogate mothers that give birth to healthy mouse pups. The technique is featured on the cover of Science magazine and adopted by the cattle industry for multiplying the reproductive potential of prize cattle.

University of Tennessee/ORNL researchers Ada and Donald Olins discover the nucleosome by electron microscopy and propose its structure. The nucleosome is fundamental to chromosome structure and function as the subunit for packaging DNA within chromosomes and the cell nucleus. The Olins propose that these particles have a dyad axis (like DNA) and pairs of the basic proteins (histones), which is later confirmed. 

ORNL adds fossil fuel and energy conservation programs to its nuclear fission and fusion energy missions. It aligns energy research and conservation to broad questions of social and environmental impacts and puts new focus on research related to buildings, appliances, transportation, advanced materials, and analysis of energy issues.

Researchers develop a radioactive imaging agent for medical scanning diagnosis of heart disease that can be used to detect how much heart muscle is alive after a heart attack and predict whether bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty will restore blood flow.

A high-sensitivity isotope ratio mass spectrometer designed and built at ORNL is delivered to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The tool is used to measure thousands of samples of uranium and plutonium from around the world to verify compliance with the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons that became effective in 1970.

In 1961, ORNL researchers begin developing radioisotope heat sources to power satellites. In 1975 they introduce an iridium alloy needed to clad spheres of plutonium-238 oxide fuel in the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft that launch in 1977. Another ORNL material aboard is thermal insulation consisting of bonded mattes of carbon fiber to maintain the fuel cladding in a preferred temperature range. Both ORNL materials are deployed aboard other NASA spacecraft, including Galileo and Cassini.

On May 22, 1978, President Jimmy Carter tells an audience of staff that ORNL will play a key role in the future of energy research.  Less than one year prior to his visit, President Carter signs into law the Department of Energy Organization Act, forming the Department of Energy and consolidating energy policy and more than 30 energy functions. Carter shares a unique connection to ORNL through his prior work on a Navy submarine as a nuclear engineer under the supervision of Admiral Hyman Rickover, graduate of ORNL's Clinton Training School.

ORNL helps the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ascertain the causes and consequences of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident that occurred March 28, 1979. ORNL helps develop the Sequence Coding and Search System, which captures information on nuclear plant operations and is used for numerous safety studies, regulatory actions, and risk assessments. ORNL also develops accident models, prompting design improvements and regulatory guides for digital instrumentation and control systems in nuclear plants.

ORNL researchers devise remotely controlled dexterous servomanipulators to conduct work in radioactive zones too hazardous for humans. ORNL's robotics activities are applied to nuclear fuel processing, military-field munitions handling, fusion reactors, and environmental cleanup projects.

Bill Russell leads the research team that identifies ethylnitrosourea (ENU) as a "supermutagen" that is the most effective chemical in inducing mutations in mice. Subsequently, ENU is used widely as the gold-standard reagent for the discovery and cloning of genes associated with human diseases.

Researchers investigate the properties of 120 laboratory melts and determine the recommended composition and heat treatment of a chrome-moly steel that has better tolerance of design stresses with no loss of ductility, higher resistance to thermal stress, immunity to stress corrosion cracking in chloride-bearing water, and resistance to radiation-induced swelling. Chrome-moly steel is used in electric utility boilers and oil refinery furnaces worldwide.

As the Cold War cools down and America sifts through the implications of the Three Mile Island accident, ORNL strengthens its dedication to nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear safety, and security efforts around the world. The laboratory also focuses on transforming scientific discoveries into useful technologies that can be deployed in the marketplace. Partnerships between the national laboratories and private industry enable rapid strides in solving transportation and building efficiency problems, and successive generations of ever-more powerful supercomputers accelerate research and development.

ORNL researchers develop the Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation (SCALE) as an easy-to-use computer software system for determining whether designs of nuclear facilities and transportation of storage packages meet nuclear safety standards. SCALE incorporates well-known computer codes, such as the KENO Monte Carlo code developed at ORNL in 1966 for criticality safety assessments. SCALE is used worldwide. SCALE can be applied to ensure radiation doses to workers are as low as reasonably achievable, nuclear criticality cannot be achieved during storage, and heat generated from radiation can be properly vented.

ORNL's partnership with Cincinnati Incorporated accelerates the commercialization of new additive manufacturing technologies that can print polymer parts faster and cheaper than existing technologies can print such parts. In September, after a grueling 6 day week that included nearly round-the-clock work, Local Motors, along with ORNL, Cincinnati Incorporated, and the Association for Manufacturing Technology, unveil the world's first 3D-printed, drivable vehicle during the International Manufacturing Technology Show.

The Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) ecosystem experiment begins in northern Minnesota with significant ORNL contributions. The experiment is designed to assess the response of northern peatland ecosystems to increases in temperature and exposures to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations by monitoring organic and biogeochemical processes in a mossy, sphagnum bog forest in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest.

ORNL researchers use neutron scattering and computational modeling to reveal a unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules under extreme confinement that is unmatched by any known gas, liquid, or solid states.

ITER is halfway to its initial operation goal of “first plasma” in 2025. America is a participant in the multinational project, with US efforts headquartered at ORNL as a DOE Office of Science Program. First plasma will be the first stage of operation for ITER as a functional machine.

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