![Man in blue button down shirt poses outside for a picture with his arms crossed.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_square_large/public/2024-07/Troy_Carter_headshot.jpeg?h=8a7fc05e&itok=VFmZIzHo)
Filter News
Area of Research
- (-) Fusion and Fission (7)
- (-) Materials (79)
- Advanced Manufacturing (22)
- Biology and Environment (26)
- Building Technologies (1)
- Clean Energy (104)
- Computational Biology (1)
- Computational Engineering (1)
- Computer Science (7)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Functional Materials for Energy (1)
- Fusion Energy (1)
- Isotopes (24)
- Materials for Computing (12)
- National Security (28)
- Neutron Science (15)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (10)
- Quantum information Science (4)
- Supercomputing (51)
News Topics
- (-) 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (26)
- (-) Artificial Intelligence (10)
- (-) Composites (9)
- (-) Cybersecurity (4)
- (-) Isotopes (14)
- (-) Microscopy (27)
- (-) Polymers (17)
- Advanced Reactors (10)
- Big Data (2)
- Bioenergy (11)
- Biology (5)
- Biomedical (8)
- Buildings (5)
- Chemical Sciences (34)
- Clean Water (3)
- Climate Change (5)
- Computer Science (19)
- Coronavirus (4)
- Critical Materials (13)
- Decarbonization (9)
- Energy Storage (35)
- Environment (17)
- Exascale Computing (3)
- Fossil Energy (1)
- Frontier (4)
- Fusion (27)
- Grid (6)
- High-Performance Computing (6)
- Irradiation (1)
- ITER (6)
- Machine Learning (5)
- Materials (74)
- Materials Science (80)
- Mathematics (1)
- Molten Salt (3)
- Nanotechnology (39)
- National Security (3)
- Net Zero (2)
- Neutron Science (34)
- Nuclear Energy (42)
- Partnerships (13)
- Physics (30)
- Quantum Computing (3)
- Quantum Science (11)
- Renewable Energy (1)
- Security (4)
- Simulation (4)
- Space Exploration (3)
- Summit (2)
- Sustainable Energy (17)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (3)
- Transportation (16)
Media Contacts
![Distinguished Inventors](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-12/inventors.jpg?h=4631f1c1&itok=xhAGY0kv)
Six scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were named Battelle Distinguished Inventors, in recognition of obtaining 14 or more patents during their careers at the lab.
![These fuel assembly brackets, manufactured by ORNL in partnership with Framatome and Tennessee Valley Authority, are the first 3D-printed safety-related components to be inserted into a nuclear power plant. Credit: Fred List/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/FramatomeCB1.jpg?h=7c790887&itok=oVGkqZYZ)
The Transformational Challenge Reactor, or TCR, a microreactor built using 3D printing and other new advanced technologies, could be operational by 2024.
![Xunxiang Hu, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow in ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division, designed this machine to produce large, crack-free pieces of yttrium hydride to be used as a moderator in the core of ORNL’s Transformational Challenge Reactor and other microreactors. Credit: Xunxiang Hu/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/HuYHxphoto.jpg?h=eef83f16&itok=7KfkqQLh)
About 60 years ago, scientists discovered that a certain rare earth metal-hydrogen mixture, yttrium, could be the ideal moderator to go inside small, gas-cooled nuclear reactors.
![ORNL researchers developed a quantum, or squeezed, light approach for atomic force microscopy that enables measurement of signals otherwise buried by noise. Credit: Raphael Pooser/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/cantilever_cell_lower_perspective_composite3a%20copy.jpg?h=cdc5ebd8&itok=MDv06yLW)
Researchers at ORNL used quantum optics to advance state-of-the-art microscopy and illuminate a path to detecting material properties with greater sensitivity than is possible with traditional tools.
![Simulation of short polymer chains](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/Screen%20Shot%202020-07-27%20at%202.46.08%20PM_0.png?h=fc4031ca&itok=DVcIeNaW)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have discovered a cost-effective way to significantly improve the mechanical performance of common polymer nanocomposite materials.
![Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory shed new light on elusive chemical processes at the liquid-liquid interface during solvent extraction of cobalt (dark blue). Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/6_final.png?h=d1cb525d&itok=KQte9kSh)
Real-time measurements captured by researchers at ORNL provide missing insight into chemical separations to recover cobalt, a critical raw material used to make batteries and magnets for modern technologies.
![The CrossVis application includes a parallel coordinates plot (left), a tiled image view (right) and other interactive data views. Credit: Chad Steed/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/CrossVisOverview_2.png?h=fd2b4cf7&itok=Mz8wRoMo)
From materials science and earth system modeling to quantum information science and cybersecurity, experts in many fields run simulations and conduct experiments to collect the abundance of data necessary for scientific progress.
![Sergei Kalinin](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/2019-P00126_0.png?h=5969a3b5&itok=66cucDCt)
Five researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been named ORNL Corporate Fellows in recognition of significant career accomplishments and continued leadership in their scientific fields.
![Colorized micrograph of lily pollen](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/Lily_CH%20and%20CO_1.png?h=436b82d4&itok=lntoWKVr)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have built a novel microscope that provides a “chemical lens” for viewing biological systems including cell membranes and biofilms.
![At the U.S. Department of Energy Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, this part for a scaled-down prototype of a reactor was produced for industry partner Kairos Power.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-05/Kairos%20PI%201_0.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=EYVPB9H3)
Scientists at the Department of Energy Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL have their eyes on the prize: the Transformational Challenge Reactor, or TCR, a microreactor built using 3D printing and other new approaches that will be up and running by 2023.