News

Advanced materials research to enable energy-efficient, cost-competitive and environmentally friendly technologies for the United States and Japan is the goal of a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, between the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Japan’s National Institute of Materials Science.

A new study conducted on the Frontier supercomputer gave researchers new clues to improving fusion confinement. This research, in collaboration with General Atomics and UC San Diego, uncovered that the interaction between ions and electrons near the tokamak's edge can unexpectedly increase turbulence, challenging previous assumptions about how to optimize plasma confinement for efficient nuclear fusion.

Researchers used quantum simulations to obtain new insights into the nature of neutrinos — the mysterious subatomic particles that abound throughout the universe — and their role in the deaths of massive stars.

In May, the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Brookhaven national laboratories co-hosted the 15th annual International Particle Accelerator Conference, or IPAC, at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Leadership Tennessee has named Clarice Phelps to its 2024–2025 Signature Program Class XI to collaborate with professionals statewide to address Tennessee’s most serious issues. 

Six firms received Small Business Awards from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The companies, selected from small business service providers to the lab, were recognized by ORNL's Small Business Programs Office for their specific capabilities and contributions. 

Sara Martinez ensures the safety and longevity of aging structures at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, employing her engineering expertise to protect against natural disasters and extend the lifespan of critical facilities.

When Oak Ridge National Laboratory's science mission takes staff off-campus, the lab’s safety principles follow. That’s true even in the high mountain passes of Washington and Oregon, where ORNL scientists are tracking a tree species — and where wildfires have become more frequent and widespread.

Erin Webb, lead for the Bioresources Science and Engineering group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers — the society’s highest honor. 

Lætitia H. Delmau, a distinguished researcher and radiochemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the 2024 Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award.