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Media Contacts
![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.
![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.
![Porter Bailey started and will end his 33-year career at ORNL in the same building: 7920 of the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-01/2020-P17836.jpg?h=4cdfc2d0&itok=2rFoZlS6)
Porter Bailey started and will end his 33-year career at ORNL in the same building: 7920 of the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center.
![asset management](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-05/Picture9.png?h=cf4f3851&itok=rVU02eNT)
East Tennessee occupies a special place in nuclear history. In 1943, the world’s first continuously operating reactor began operating on land that would become ORNL.
![The image shows a visualization of a radiation transport simulation for a spaceflight radioisotope power system and complex interactions of radiation fields with operational environments. Credit: Michael B. R. Smith and M. Scott Greenwood/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-11/Radiation%20-%20video%20game%20visualization_0.jpg?h=caea307d&itok=e3nK2b2_)
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a first-of-a-kind toolkit drawing on video game development software to visualize radiation data.
![Sandra Davern performs cell based assays to evaluate cell death and DNA damage in response to radiation in order to gain a better understanding of how radioisotope nanoparticles affect the human body.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/2020-P15712.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=6cpxN4v2)
When Sandra Davern looks to the future, she sees individualized isotopes sent into the body with a specific target: cancer cells.
![VERA, the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/VERA-NQA1.png?h=de483914&itok=sbmBpjMk)
Nuclear scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have established a Nuclear Quality Assurance-1 program for a software product designed to simulate today’s commercial nuclear reactors – removing a significant barrier for industry adoption of the technology.
![David Kropaczek directs the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, a Department of Energy Innovation Hub headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. David Kropaczek directs the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, a Department of Energy Innovation Hub headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2016-P07859%5B2%5D%5B1%5D.jpg?itok=NRe8pBsS)
![ORNL Image](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/Susan_Hogle_th.jpg?itok=iylKTfwS)
For many scientists and engineers, the first real test of their mettle comes not in a classroom, but in a lab or the field, where hands-on experience can teach volumes. For Susan Hogle, that hands-on experience just happened to be with material that was too hot to handle—literally....
![By producing 50 grams of plutonium-238, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated the nation’s ability to provide a valuable energy source for deep space missions. By producing 50 grams of plutonium-238, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated the nation’s ability to provide a valuable energy source for deep space missions.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/front_page_slide_assets/2015-P07524.jpg?itok=MEy22Na3)
With the production of 50 grams of plutonium-238, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have restored a U.S. capability dormant for nearly 30 years and set the course to provide power for NASA and other missions.