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Brenda Pracheil and Bryan Chakoumakos examine the structure of an otolith under a microscope.
Scientific discovery can come from anywhere, but few researchers can say the answers to their questions would come from the pea-sized bones in the head of a six-foot-long, 200-pound prehistoric freshwater fish. In a unique pairing of biology and neutron science, researchers from...
Tennessine thumbnail
The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named "tennessine" in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee.
Magnetic suspension test bed.

When it comes to a challenging application for embedded instrumentation and control, none quite beats an environment of molten salt at 700 degrees Celsius. But that is just the application chosen by scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory...

Pressure Synthesis
Unexpected results from a neutron scattering experiment at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory could open a new pathway for the synthesis of novel materials and also help explain the formation of complex organic structures observed in interstellar space. I...
Default image of ORNL entry sign
Two researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been elected fellows of the American Nuclear Society. Alan S. Icenhour and Jess C. Gehin were recognized for their outstanding scientific and technical leadership in nuclear energy rese...
Nearly 200 attendees from national labs, industry, utilities, reactor design firms, and international development companies gathered at ORNL’s latest molten salt reactor workshop.

Renewed interest in molten salt technology was evident at a recent gathering of advanced nuclear reactor experts at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Nearly 200 attendees from national labs, industry, utilities, reactor design firms,...

Doctoral student Rachel Seibert works with ORNL mentor Kurt Terrani as part of the lab’s Nuclear Engineering Science Laboratory Synthesis (NESLS) program.
For a second straight summer, Rachel Seibert spent her days at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researching advanced nuclear reactors. The Ph.D. candidate may not have had such an opportunity more than a decade ago, but thanks to a unique internship ...
Rubber-lignin samples
Scientists have developed a process for mixing unmodified lignin with general-purpose rubber and other components that yields high-performance renewable thermoplastics containing up to 41 percent of lignin content. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led research team tested two combinations of materials using different lignin varieties resulting in samples that were either “stretchy” or demonstrated tensile strength comparable to glassy plastic such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS.
This isotropic, neodymium-iron-boron bonded permanent magnet was 3D-printed at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that permanent magnets produced by additive manufacturing can outperform bonded magnets made using traditional techniques while conserving critical materials. Scientists fabric...

A team from ORNL, Indiana University and Max Planck Institute in Germany has implemented a technique with Wollaston prisms to expand the capabilities currently available at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor instrument HB-1.
For the first time since 2011, scientific users of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor were able to take advantage of a seventh cycle, allowing for 25 extra days of neutron production and available time for new experiments on HFIR’s 12 beam lines in fiscal ye...