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The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and artificial intelligence company Atomic Canyon signed a memorandum of understanding to streamline the licensing process for nuclear power plants with artificial intelligence for license application reviews.

ORNL set a new milestone in nuclear component Â鶹ӰÒô, successfully testing two 3D-printed stainless steel experimental capsules at the lab’s High Flux Isotope Reactor. This achievement marks an important step in demonstrating that additively manufactured components can meet the rigorous safety standards required in nuclear applications. 

DOE’s Argonne, Idaho, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories co-hosted the AI x Nuclear Energy Executive Summit: Unleashing the Power for AI. It brought together leaders from national labs, tech companies and the nuclear energy industry to discuss how to meet AI’s energy needs and accelerate nuclear energy via AI.

From decoding plant genomes to modeling microbial behavior, computational biologist Priya Ranjan builds computational tools that turn extensive biological datasets into real-world insights. These tools transform the way scientists ask and answer complex biological questions that advance biotechnology breakthroughs and support cultivation of better crops for energy and food security. 

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has promoted Melissa Cregger and Carrie Eckert to serve as chief science officers, advancing the center’s mission of Â鶹ӰÒôs for new domestic biofuels, chemicals and materials.

Analyzing massive datasets from nuclear physics experiments can take hours or days to process, but researchers are working to radically reduce that time to mere seconds using special software being developed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national laboratories.  

Jesse Labbé aims to leverage biology, computation and engineering to address societal challenges related to energy, national security and health, while enhancing U.S. competitiveness. Labbé emphasizes the importance of translating groundbreaking research into practical applications that have real-world impact.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Colorado Boulder used a gene-silencing tool and a large library of molecular guides to understand how photosynthetic bacteria adapt to light and temperature changes. They found that even partial suppression of certain genes yielded big benefits in modifying the stress response of wild microbes. 

ORNL scientists are using synthetic communities to simplify underground ecosystems to better understand the interactions between plants and microbes, informing the development of better bioenergy crops for domestic energy production.

Vilmos Kertesz, senior staff in the Biosciences Division at ORNL, has received a 2025 Al Yergey Mass Spectrometry Scientist Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. The award recognizes his contributions to the fields of analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry.