![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
- Advanced Manufacturing (2)
- Biology and Environment (35)
- Clean Energy (30)
- Climate and Environmental Systems (1)
- Electricity and Smart Grid (1)
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (1)
- Fusion and Fission (9)
- Fusion Energy (7)
- Isotope Development and Production (1)
- Isotopes (26)
- Materials (66)
- Materials for Computing (11)
- National Security (3)
- Neutron Science (16)
- Nuclear Science and Technology (19)
- Nuclear Systems Modeling, Simulation and Validation (1)
- Quantum information Science (2)
- Supercomputing (21)
News Topics
- (-) Advanced Reactors (34)
- (-) Biotechnology (22)
- (-) Isotopes (53)
- (-) Mercury (12)
- (-) Microelectronics (3)
- (-) Microscopy (51)
- (-) Nanotechnology (60)
- (-) Space Exploration (25)
- 3-D Printing/Advanced Manufacturing (122)
- Artificial Intelligence (91)
- Big Data (55)
- Bioenergy (92)
- Biology (99)
- Biomedical (58)
- Buildings (57)
- Chemical Sciences (65)
- Clean Water (29)
- Climate Change (100)
- Composites (26)
- Computer Science (189)
- Coronavirus (46)
- Critical Materials (26)
- Cybersecurity (35)
- Decarbonization (80)
- Education (4)
- Element Discovery (1)
- Emergency (2)
- Energy Storage (109)
- Environment (195)
- Exascale Computing (37)
- Fossil Energy (6)
- Frontier (42)
- Fusion (55)
- Grid (63)
- High-Performance Computing (85)
- Hydropower (11)
- Irradiation (3)
- ITER (7)
- Machine Learning (48)
- Materials (144)
- Materials Science (141)
- Mathematics (8)
- Molten Salt (8)
- National Security (62)
- Net Zero (14)
- Neutron Science (131)
- Nuclear Energy (109)
- Partnerships (44)
- Physics (61)
- Polymers (33)
- Quantum Computing (34)
- Quantum Science (69)
- Renewable Energy (2)
- Security (24)
- Simulation (48)
- Software (1)
- Statistics (3)
- Summit (57)
- Sustainable Energy (126)
- Transformational Challenge Reactor (7)
- Transportation (97)
Media Contacts
![An ORNL researcher holds a capsule of molten salt. Preliminary experiments seem to indicate that irradiation can slow corrosion of metal in liquid salt. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/salt_irr_01_0.jpg?h=b69e0e0e&itok=cwf13UxX)
Irradiation may slow corrosion of alloys in molten salt, a team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists has found in preliminary tests.
![Shown here is an on-chip carbonized electrode microstructure from a scanning electron microscope. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/Lavrik%20Story%20Tip_0.jpg?h=33192216&itok=nNMwVUtU)
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee designed and demonstrated a method to make carbon-based materials that can be used as electrodes compatible with a specific semiconductor circuitry.
![Substituting deuterium for hydrogen makes methylammonium heavier and slows its swaying so it can interact with vibrations that remove heat, keeping charge carriers hot longer. Credit: Jill Hemman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-10/20-G00933_PR_Manley_0.jpg?h=eca34813&itok=3DjqguYT)
Led by ORNL and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a study of a solar-energy material with a bright future revealed a way to slow phonons, the waves that transport heat.
![Light moves through a fiber and stimulates the metal electrons in nanotip into collective oscillations called surface plasmons, assisting electrons to leave the tip. This simple electron nano-gun can be made more versatile via different forms of material composition and structuring. Credit: Ali Passian/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/Photons%20%281%29_0.png?h=9575d294&itok=NLfgaoT2)
Scientists at ORNL and the University of Nebraska have developed an easier way to generate electrons for nanoscale imaging and sensing, providing a useful new tool for material science, bioimaging and fundamental quantum research.
![ORNL scientists have optimized the Pseudomonas putida bacterium to digest five of the most abundant components of lignocellulosic biomass simultaneously, supporting a highly efficient conversion process to create renewable fuels and chemicals from plants. Credit: Alli Werner/NREL,U.S. Dept of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/P%20Putida_1.png?h=5c41473f&itok=aqfqpwbE)
ORNL scientists have modified a single microbe to simultaneously digest five of the most abundant components of lignocellulosic biomass, a big step forward in the development of a cost-effective biochemical conversion process to turn plants into
![A selfie from the Curiosity rover as it explores the surface of Mars. Like many spacecraft, Curiosity uses a radioisotope power system to help fuel its mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-09/Curiousity_1.jpg?h=86a9dded&itok=Jo0vD321)
Radioactive isotopes power some of NASA’s best-known spacecraft. But predicting how radiation emitted from these isotopes might affect nearby materials is tricky
![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.
![Fuel pellets sometimes degrade to a sandlike consistency and can disperse into the reactor core if a rod’s cladding bursts. ORNL researchers are studying how often this happens and what impact it has, in order to let reactors operate as long as possible without increasing risk.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/X2001338_FuelFragmentation_GraphicUpdate_Bumpus_jnj-02_0.jpg?h=049a2720&itok=mzNfF2cS)
A developing method to gauge the occurrence of a nuclear reactor anomaly has the potential to save millions of dollars.
![VERA’s tools allow a virtual window inside the reactor core, down to a molecular level.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/Godfrey_2d_pin_power.png?h=507248e9&itok=SIcNrXUE)
As CASL ends and transitions to VERA Users Group, ORNL looks at the history of the program and its impact on the nuclear industry.
![ORNL’s Lab-on-a-crystal uses machine learning to correlate materials’ mechanical, optical and electrical responses to dynamic environments. Credit: Ilia Ivanov/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-08/lab_on_crystal2_0.png?h=bc215d7c&itok=5Zsjkf9e)
An all-in-one experimental platform developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences accelerates research on promising materials for future technologies.