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An image of a complete 7HA.02 gas turbine. The new GE turbine is capable of achieving an overall efficiency of more than 62 percent in a combined-cycle power plant and is projected to exceed world-record efficiency marks set by GE’s 9HA turbine model.
In 2017, US-based General Electric (GE) delivered its newest heavy-duty gas turbine, the 7HA.02, to two power plants in Texas. The installations marked a milestone in natural gas–derived electricity generation, setting new marks in efficiency and emissions for utility-scale turboma...
When a neutron star forms, compression creates heat that generates neutrinos. When the star’s core collapses, a shock wave propagates around the star but stalls. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy; created by J.A. Harris.

The Big Bang began the formation and organization of the matter that makes up ourselves and our world. Nearly 14 billion years later, nuclear physicists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and their partners are using America’s most powerful supercomp...

ORNL’s 2017 Molten Salt Reactor Workshop offered a wide range of talks on advanced reactors, including modeling and simulation techniques, commercial licensing strategies and the Department of Energy’s efforts to work with industry on developing designs.

The third annual Molten Salt Reactor Workshop allowed leading voices on advanced reactors—including scientists from the national laboratory system, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reactor design firms and universities—to discuss current efforts in molten salt reactor work and pu...

conventional sedan

It’s common knowledge that driving aggressively can dent gas mileage, but it’s difficult to determine exactly how much gas drivers waste. A new study by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has quantified the impact speeding and slamming on the brakes has on fuel economy and consumption. They found that aggressive behavior behind the wheel can lower gas mileage in light-duty vehicles by about 10 to 40 percent in stop-and-go traffic and roughly 15 to 30 percent at highway speeds. This can equate to losing about $0.25 to $1 per gallon.

Ctherm on Biomass CSLM

With the licensing to Enchi Corporation of a microbe custom-designed to produce ethanol efficiently, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) mark the culmination of 10 years’ research into ways to improve biofuels production. Enchi ha...

Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer (right) helps ORNL celebrate $858,000 of contributions to this year’s United Way campaign.
Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer praised UT-Battelle employees at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during a Leadership Givers Breakfast for contributing $858,000 to this year’s United Way campaign. Fulmer, who is involved with several U...
Rick Raines

Richard “Rick” Raines has been on the forefront of protecting critical communications systems from attack since before the term “cyber” was in vogue, and he is bringing that leadership to bear as he takes on the role of director for the Electrical and Electronics Systems Research Division (EESRD) at...

Teressa McKinney
Teressa McKinney, a program manager in the Nonproliferation, Safeguards and Security group in the Global Security Directorate of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected fellow of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management.&nbsp...
Mike Fitzsimmons
Mike Fitzsimmons of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected vice president of the Materials Research Society (MRS). His three-year term starts in 2018 and will last three years. Fitzsimmons, who is a fellow of the American Physi...
Arjun Shankar

The field of “Big Data” has exploded in the blink of an eye, growing exponentially into almost every branch of science in just a few decades. Sectors such as energy, manufacturing, healthcare and many others depend on scalable data processing and analysis for continued in...