![Researcher Brittany Rodriguez works with an ORNL-developed Additive Manufacturing/Compression Molding system that 3D prints large-scale, high-volume parts made from lightweight composites. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-07/Rodriguez%20profile%20photo%202.jpg?h=b3660f0d&itok=xn0NRyVn)
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Media Contacts
![Transformational Challenge Reactor Demonstration items](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/Press_release_image.jpg?h=b707efd5&itok=-Sxbmt8D)
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are refining their design of a 3D-printed nuclear reactor core, scaling up the additive manufacturing process necessary to build it, and developing methods
![Nuclear – Finally, a benchmark](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/67051_0.jpg?h=add82d74&itok=xR-EnPtz)
In the 1960s, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's four-year Molten Salt Reactor Experiment tested the viability of liquid fuel reactors for commercial power generation. Results from that historic experiment recently became the basis for the first-ever molten salt reactor benchmark.
![Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail measures in at less than 2 millimeters long. Credit: Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/Cave_snailREV.jpg?h=c96bab7a&itok=6rjc3NQL)
Sometimes conducting big science means discovering a species not much larger than a grain of sand.
![Materials — Molding molecular matter](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-04/Ebeam_IMAGE_Final_0.jpg?h=c4322a57&itok=uYF8ugqx)
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used a focused beam of electrons to stitch platinum-silicon molecules into graphene, marking the first deliberate insertion of artificial molecules into a graphene host matrix.
![VERA’s tools allow a virtual “window” inside the reactor core, down to a molecular level.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-03/core.png?h=dc920c3f&itok=BggaFrQA)
A software package, 10 years in the making, that can predict the behavior of nuclear reactors’ cores with stunning accuracy has been licensed commercially for the first time.
![Starch granules](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/starchgranules.png?h=0c9ab501&itok=eLsE3JOx)
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method to peer deep into the nanostructure of biomaterials without damaging the sample. This novel technique can confirm structural features in starch, a carbohydrate important in biofuel production.
![Scanning probe microscopes use an atom-sharp tip—only a few nanometers thick—to image materials on a nanometer length scale. The probe tip, invisible to the eye, is attached to a cantilever (pictured) that moves across material surfaces like the tone arm on a record player. Credit: Genevieve Martin/Oak Ridge National Laboratory; U.S. Dept. of Energy.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/2019-P15115.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=o69jyoNw)
Liam Collins was drawn to study physics to understand “hidden things” and honed his expertise in microscopy so that he could bring them to light.
![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.
![Costas Tsouris portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-12/2019-P16550_0.jpg?h=036a71b7&itok=0wysIPxo)
While Tsouris’ water research is diverse in scope, its fundamentals are based on basic science principles that remain largely unchanged, particularly in a mature field like chemical engineering.
![Argon pellet injection text](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2019-11/13966_Ar_20degree_enhanced_0.jpg?h=8450e950&itok=tmff0GX_)
As scientists study approaches to best sustain a fusion reactor, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory investigated injecting shattered argon pellets into a super-hot plasma, when needed, to protect the reactor’s interior wall from high-energy runaway electrons.