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Researcher in a blue coat and glasses, purple gloves and white baseball gat pulls out materials from a metal canister

ORNL researchers created and tested two methods for transforming coal into the scarce mineral graphite, which is used in batteries for electric vehicles. 

ORNL researcher is sitting on a desk with his hands crossed, three screens behind him depicting work in satellites and space. Pictures on the left and right are orange in color while the middle photo is blue and reflects an image from space

From during his early years at NASA to his current role a researcher and group leader, Peter Fuhr has pushed the boundaries of optical and sensor technology. Fuhr’s path is marked by wacky creativity that can’t confine itself to challenges in a single field. No idea is too far out to try out — and so many of them work that Fuhr has a host of inventions and start-ups under his belt.

Members of the target design team pose next to the 2.0-megawatt-capable mercury flow target they developed.

The Proton Power Upgrade project at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source has achieved its final key performance parameter of 1,250 hours of neutron production at 1.7 megawatts of proton beam power on a newly developed target. 

Pictured is the IMAGINE instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor

Biochemist David Baker — just announced as a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry — turned to the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for information he couldn’t get anywhere else. HFIR is the strongest reactor-based neutron source in the United States.  

This illustration demonstrates how atomic configurations with an equiatomic concentration of niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta) and vanadium (V) can become disordered. The AI model helps researchers identify potential atomic configurations that can be used as shielding for housing fusion applications in a nuclear reactor. Credit: Massimiliano Lupo Pasini/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A study led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory details how artificial intelligence researchers created an AI model to help identify new alloys used as shielding for housing fusion applications components in a nuclear reactor. The findings mark a major step towards improving nuclear fusion facilities.

ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source, the nation’s leading source of pulsed neutron beams for research, was recently restarted after nine months of upgrade work. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source, the nation’s leading source of pulsed neutron beams for research, was recently restarted after nine months of upgrade work. 

Moe Khaleel, left, associate laboratory director for national security sciences, and Maurice Singleton, chief executive officer of U2opia Technology, celebrate the partnership between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and U2opia Technology. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

U2opia Technology has licensed Situ and Heartbeat, a package of technologies from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory that offer a new method for advanced cybersecurity monitoring in real time. 

Takeshi Egami stands at his workstation at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source where he used novel experimental methods to propose the density wave theory. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Distinguished materials scientist Takeshi Egami has spent his career revealing the complex atomic structure of metallic glass and other liquids — sometimes sharing theories with initially resistant minds in the scientific community. 

ORNL scientists used molecular dynamics simulations, exascale computing, lab testing and analysis to accelerate the development of an energy-saving method to produce nanocellulosic fibers.

A team led by scientists at ORNL identified and demonstrated a method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%, using simulations on the lab’s supercomputers and follow-on analysis.

VENUS, slated for user beamtime next fall, dons ORNL green to symbolize involvement from scientists and researchers across ORNL.

DOE commissioned a neutron imaging instrument, VENUS, at the Spallation Neutron Source in July. VENUS instrument scientists will use AI to deliver 3D models to researchers in half the time it typically takes.