News

A team of federal contractor and national laboratory engineers and scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has been nationally distinguished as “Heroes of Chemistry” for making the world better through their effort, ingenuity, creativity and perseverance.

To better predict long-term flooding risk, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a 3D modeling framework that captures the complex dynamics of water as it flows across the landscape. The framework seeks to provide valuable insights into which communities are most vulnerable as the climate changes, and was developed for a project that’s assessing climate risk and mitigation pathways for an urban area along the Southeast Texas coast.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has named Troy A. Carter director of the Fusion Energy Division in ORNL’s Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate, or FFESD. 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have developed a method leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate the identification of environmentally friendly solvents for industrial carbon capture, biomass processing, rechargeable batteries and other applications.

ORNL's Guang Yang and Andrew Westover have been selected to join the first cohort of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2024 program. The program supports early career scientists and engineers in their work to convert disruptive ideas into impactful energy technologies. 

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.

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory team revealed how chemical species form in a highly reactive molten salt mixture of aluminum chloride and potassium chloride by unraveling vibrational signatures and observing ion exchanges. 

Researchers at ORNL and the University of Maine have designed and 3D-printed a single-piece, recyclable natural-material floor panel tested to be strong enough to replace construction materials like steel. 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists ingeniously created a sustainable, soft material by combining rubber with woody reinforcements and incorporating “smart” linkages between the components that unlock on demand.

Early career scientist Frankie White's was part of two major isotope projects at the same time he was preparing to be a father. As co-lead on a team that achieved the first synthesis and characterization of a radium compound using single crystal X-ray diffraction and part of a team that characterized the properties of promethium, White reflects on the life-changing timeline at work, and at home.