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Media Contacts
![Summer Widner, Stephanie Timbs, James Gaugler and James Avenell of ORNL are part of a team that processes thorium-228, a byproduct of actinium-227. As new uses for thorium are realized, particularly in medicine, the lab expects the demand for the radioisotope to grow.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/Part%20of%20Th-228%20Team_1.jpg?h=09b6d1d3&itok=1_l1hx2l)
As a medical isotope, thorium-228 has a lot of potential — and Oak Ridge National Laboratory produces a lot.
![Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-08/P7040032cc_small_0.jpg?h=827069f2&itok=0cPOEjIi)
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory added new plant data to a computer model that simulates Arctic ecosystems, enabling it to better predict how vegetation in rapidly warming northern environments may respond to climate change.
![Initially, Kevin Gaddis’s adapted HPIC will be used only for the fourth of six separations in actinium-225 processing, but he hopes it will later be used for other separations — and other isotopes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/2021-P03893_1.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=DU6L5EUx)
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher has invented a version of an isotope-separating device that can withstand extreme environments, including radiation and chemical solvents.
![A team of scientists found that microbes at the SPRUCE experiment in the Minnesota peatlands are increasing production of methane under warming conditions. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/spruce_0.jpg?h=c282529e&itok=VExEOgns)
Scientists studying a unique whole-ecosystem warming experiment in the Minnesota peatlands found that microorganisms are increasing methane production faster than carbon dioxide production.
![Balendra Sutharshan](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-06/2021-P01348.jpg?h=d33ebf6f&itok=qwQNPmu1)
In the mid-1980s, Balendra Sutharshan moved to Canada from the island nation of Sri Lanka. That move set Sutharshan on a path that had him heading continent-spanning collaborations and holding leadership posts at multiple Department of Energy
![Brenda Smith, shown here working with a gas viscometer in her research lab, is one of several people concurrently researching the thermophysical properties of feedstock gas. Their research will support computational researchers who are designing processes to separate isotopes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, US Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-05/2021-P01103_0.jpg?h=13f436e5&itok=lMLI1EqU)
For years Brenda Smith found fulfillment working with nuclear batteries, a topic she’s been researching as a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![Targeted alpha therapy can deliver radiation to specific cells, with minimal effect on surrounding, healthy cells. Credit: Michelle Lehman and Jaimee Janiga/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/gif_high_res.gif?h=ae1281eb&itok=QtNBjm3O)
A rare isotope in high demand for treating cancer is now more available to pharmaceutical companies developing and testing new drugs.
![Data from the ORNL Free Air CO2 Enrichment experiment were combined with observations from more than 100 other FACE sites for this analysis, which revealed new insights about the relationship between plant biomass growth and soil carbon storage. Credit: Jeff Warren/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/Elevated%20atmospheric%20CO2%20study.jpg?h=0279ae05&itok=arj7A6xp)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory was among an international team, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who synthesized 108 elevated carbon dioxide, or CO2, experiments performed in various ecosystems to find out how much carbon is
![Urban climate modeling](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/urbanclimate_sized.jpeg?h=0d9d21a1&itok=-ICe9HqY)
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a statistical relationship between the growth of cities and the spread of paved surfaces like roads and sidewalks. These impervious surfaces impede the flow of water into the ground, affecting the water cycle and, by extension, the climate.
![Technicians John Dyer and T. Dyer use a manipulator arm in a shielded cave in ORNL’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center to separate concentrated Pm-147 from byproducts generated through the production of Pu-238.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/Promethium%20feature_0.jpg?h=a1f525db&itok=6XSsJdot)
A new method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory proves one effort’s trash is another’s valuable isotope. One of the byproducts of the lab’s national plutonium-238 production program is promethium-147, a rare isotope used in nuclear batteries and to measure the thickness of materials.