Mikhail Sokolov
Mikhail Sokolov of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the Award of Merit from the American Society for Testing and Materials International. The award includes the honorary title of fellow and is ASTM’s highest organizational recognition for individual offerings to standards activities.
Sokolov was honored for his contributions to successful symposia on nuclear technology and applications and for his work on transition range fracture toughness standards. [Read more…]
From left are Witold Nazarewicz, Bobby Sumpter, and Stan Wullschleger. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Witold Nazarewicz, Bobby Sumpter, and Stan Wullschleger of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been selected as 2013 UT-Battelle Corporate Fellows.
The rank of corporate fellow—among the lab’s highest honors—recognizes the researchers’ significant accomplishments and continuing leadership in their scientific, engineering, and technological fields. The addition of Nazarewicz, Sumpter and Wullschleger brings the number of active corporate fellows at ORNL to 33 researchers. [Read more…]
Stephen Croft
Stephen Croft of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the Institute of Physics.
He was selected for his achievements in physics and outstanding contributions to the physics profession.
Croft works in ORNL’s Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, left, and Johnny Moore, center, site office manager for the U.S. Department of Energy, escort U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat from Tennessee’s Fifth District, on a tour of ORNL. (ORNL/Genevieve Martin)
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Nashville Democrat from Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District, toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Saturday.
Cooper was joined by his Chief of Staff Lisa Quigley as well as Helen Hardin. The group also spent time at the Y-12 National Security Complex before visiting the laboratory.
While at the lab, ORNL Director Thom Mason and Johnny Moore, site office manager for the U.S. Department of Energy, escorted the congressman on a driving tour of campus followed by a tour of the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source. They later joined ORNL Associate Lab Director for Global Security Brent Park for discussions on the lab’s national security programs, the lab said in a statement. [Read more…]
From left are Brent Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s associate laboratory director of global security; Johnny Moore, the U.S. Department of Energy’s site office manager at ORNL; Bruce Held, acting under secretary for nuclear security and administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration; and ORNL director Thom Mason in the lobby of Building 5300 at ORNL. (Photo by ORNL’s Jason Richards)
Bruce Held, acting under secretary for nuclear security and administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday for a brief discussion with ORNL Director Thom Mason; Johnny Moore, the U.S. Department of Energy’s site office manager at ORNL; and Brent Park, ORNL’s associate laboratory director of global security.
Jeff Binder, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s associate lab director of nuclear science and engineering, answers an audience question during a panel discussion following a screening of “Pandora’s Promise” in Knoxville on Saturday. (Submitted photo)
By Scott Jones
About 300 people attended a showing of the new pro-nuclear film “Pandora’s Promise” and heard a panel discussion about nuclear energy on Saturday, including perspectives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff.
The lab worked with Regal Entertainment Group to bring the film to the Downtown West theater from July 19-25.
Few phrases carry the ideological weight of the words “nuclear power.” [Read more…]
Operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility is accepting proposals from companies that want to test low-cost carbon fibers manufactured at the pilot scale plant. Pictured here are textile-grade acrylic fibers entering the first of four oxidation ovens, where they gradually turn from white to yellow, auburn, brown, then black. Once fully oxidized, the fiber is ready to run through the higher-temperature furnaces, which convert the oxidized fiber to carbon fiber. (Submitted photo)
Companies interested in testing the latest in low-cost carbon fiber have a new opportunity to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.
The CFTF, operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the department’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, opened earlier this year to find ways to reduce carbon fiber production costs and to work with the private sector to stimulate widespread use of the strong, lightweight material.
In its first months of operation, the CFTF used traditional raw materials to assure the new pilot scale manufacturing line would produce a commercial-quality product. With that goal accomplished, the facility now will use less expensive “precursor” materials that can be turned into carbon fiber more cost-effectively. [Read more…]
“Pandora’s Promise,” a new film about environmentalists’ support of nuclear energy as a solution to global climate change, will be shown in a limited Knoxville engagement this week, starting today (Friday, July 19) and ending Thursday, a media advisory said.
A panel discussion at 8:45 p.m. Saturday will include representatives of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USEC, and the University of Tennessee. It will follow the 7 p.m. showing of the film. [Read more…]
Sydney Burchell, a sophomore at Morristown-Hamblen High School East, uses ORNL’s donated equipment to study waste management at distilleries. She and John Hale, a senior and lead researcher for the project, won first place at the INTEL-International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Ariz. (Submitted photo)
Old or unused laboratory equipment that has outlived its usefulness at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other U.S. Department of Energy sites doesn’t have to sit idle or wind up in the scrap heap. In 2012, ORNL donated $1.7 million worth of surplus property to nonprofits, including local schools, where it is now helping to inspire future scientists.
DOE works with the state of Tennessee to enable the surplus government property to go to school science labs and nonprofit agencies that can make effective use of the equipment.
Local schools have received fume hoods, water baths, centrifuges, and tilt tables, as well as ultrasonic cleaners, balances, and a variety of expensive glassware. The donated tools, outdated at any national lab, are now treasures for high school students, allowing them to conduct STEM research with high quality materials at a reasonable cost. [Read more…]
Rep. Diane Black views a 3-D visualization during a tour of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photos by ORNL’s Jason Richards)
U.S. Rep. Diane Black, a Republican from Tennessee’s 6th District, visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory Monday afternoon.
Black received an overview of the lab’s research and development activities and toured the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, the EVEREST Visualization Lab, the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors facility, the Spallation Neutron Source, and the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.
Here are a few pictures provided by ORNL. [Read more…]
This CASL visualization shows the thermal distribution of neutrons in Watts Bar Unit 1 Cycle 1 reactor core at initial criticality, as calculated by the VERA program. (Image courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors this week announced that its scientists have successfully completed the first full-scale simulation of an operating nuclear reactor.
Headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, CASL is modeling nuclear reactors on supercomputers to help researchers better understand reactor performance with much higher reliability than previously available methods, with the goal of ultimately increasing power output, extending reactor life, and reducing waste.
Simulation results from the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) program, which was developed by CASL, were compared with actual data provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Tennessee, which confirmed its accuracy. [Read more…]
The Da Vinci Fuel-in-Oil Measurement System is among the six Oak Ridge National Laboratory technologies recognized with a 2013 R&D 100 award. (Submitted photo)
Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received six R&D 100 awards, presented each year by R&D Magazine in recognition of the year’s most significant technological innovations.
“My sincere congratulations to the winners of this year’s R&D 100 Awards,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “The scientists and engineers who developed these award-winning technologies at the cutting edge facilities across our national labs are keeping Americans at the forefront of the innovation community and assuring our nation’s economic competitiveness and national security.”
The six awards bring ORNL’s total of R&D 100 awards to 179 since their inception in 1963. This year, ORNL scientists and engineers received awards for the following technologies: [Read more…]
