Oak Ridge Today

UT: Expertise in materials science, additive manufacturing helps draw CVMR to Tenn.

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Michael Hargett and Kamran Khoza of CVMR USA

CVMR President Michael Hargett, left, and Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer, joined local, state, and federal officials on Friday, March 13, to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

 

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd announced last week that CVMR Corporation is relocating its global headquarters to Oak Ridge from Toronto, Canada. CVMR provides materials for additive manufacturing and announced it will create 620 jobs.

During recruitment of CVMR, University of Tennessee officials assisted the state and hosted the company at UT Knoxville to visit with engineering and chemistry faculty and learn about graduate programs, such as the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, as well as internships and co-ops for students, a press release said. UT System officials provided information about technology transfer, the UT Research Foundation, and Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus. CVMR also learned more about the University’s role in leading the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI, a $259 million partnership announced by President Barack Obama in January. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Kalinin awarded Royal Microscopical Society medal

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Sergei Kalinin

With scanning probe microscopy, ORNL’s Sergei Kalinin explores nanoscale phenomena in new materials for energy and data storage to accelerate their discovery, design, and deployment. (Photo courtesy ORNL) 

 

Materials scientist Sergei Kalinin of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been awarded the inaugural Medal for Scanning Probe Microscopy, or SPM, by the Royal Microscopical Society, or RMS.

Kalinin is director of ORNL’s Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials, which melds capabilities in imaging, high-performance computing, and materials theory to guide the design of advanced materials for energy applications. He is also a theme leader at the  Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at ORNL, and an adjunct associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Metal powder manufacturing company investing $313 million in Oak Ridge, adding 620 jobs

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Michael Hargett and Kamran Khoza of CVMR USA

CVMR President Michael Hargett, left, and Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer, joined local, state, and federal officials on Friday to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12 a.m.

A company that manufactures high-purity metal powders and super alloys is moving its operations to Oak Ridge from Toronto, Canada, and investing $313 million here and creating 620 jobs, officials said Friday.

CVMR, which has operations in 18 countries, will use the former Theragenics building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge for its headquarters and research and development. The company closed on that building, which is on 21 acres, on Friday, but executives declined to disclose the sale price.

The first employee was hired Thursday, said Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer of CVMR (USA) Incorporated.

The company could expand that 65,000-square-foot building; infrastructure that is already in place allows it to be doubled. The company could put 218 people to work right away in its new headquarters and add 402 high-paying manufacturing jobs later, a state official said.

“I can promise you that this is the start of a wave,” said Randy Boyd, the new commissioner of Tennessee Economic and Community Development. [Read more…]

Police: Calif. man arrested, questioned by feds after demanding tours of New Hope, ORNL

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Rishi Chatterjee Malakar

Rishi Chatterjee Malakar

Note: This story was updated at 12:18 p.m. March 9.

A California man was arrested by police and questioned by federal agents after he demanded tours of the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday evening, authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to the call at about 6:22 p.m. Friday. A man had been found trying to get into the New Hope Center at 602 Scarboro Road through a rear door, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said.

An employee at the New Hope Center confronted the man, who demanded a tour of the building, Akagi said.

After he was denied a tour, the man reportedly left the area in a maroon-colored Jeep sport utility vehicle bearing a Texas license plate. [Read more…]

Former DOE deputy secretary named Centrus president, CEO

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Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, has been picked to be president and chief executive officer of Centrus Energy Corporation.

Centrus was formerly known as USEC Incorporated, and it has operations in Oak Ridge.

The selection of Poneman by the Centrus Board of Directors was announced Thursday. Poneman will join Centrus immediately and become the chief executive later this month. He will also be a member of the board. [Read more…]

Memphis school wins DOE Tennessee Science Bowl

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DOE Science Bowl Winners 2015

Tennessee Lausanne Collegiate School of Memphis first-place winners pictured above at the Blount County campus of Pellissippi State Community College are Prashanth Raj, Ted Letsou, Tony Chen, Raghav Ranga, and Rishab Jain, with their trophy. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

 

Countless hours studying math and science has paid off for some exceptionally bright students from one college preparatory academy—the Lausanne Collegiate School of Memphis—who won the Tennessee Science Bowl this past weekend. Lausanne’s Team 1 competed against 53 other high school teams on February 27-28 to place first in the annual competition.

Lausanne edged out their competition by successfully answering a host of challenging questions in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, earth and space science, and energy.

Held at Pellissippi State Community College’s Blount County Campus, the Tennessee Science Bowl is the nation’s third-largest regional competition. The regional bowl prepares students to compete nationally with other exceptional students from schools across the country. [Read more…]

DOE East Tennessee Middle School Science Bowl at Roane State on Feb. 7

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U.S. Department of Energy Logo

The fifth annual U.S. Department of Energy’s East Tennessee Middle School Science Bowl will be hosted on Saturday, February 7, at the Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge. It starts at 9 a.m.

Students from 12 local middle schools will participate in a fast-paced academic competition offering students the opportunity to match their wits in math and science, a press release said.

This year 16 teams are registered for the competition. Each team includes four student competitors, an alternate, and a coach. The competition covers numerous disciplines including astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, general science, mathematics, and physics, the press release said. [Read more…]

Science: ORNL researchers tune friction in ionic solids at the nanoscale

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Friction Release

Researchers used electricity and water to control friction levels on ionic surfaces at the nanoscale. As water forms around the nanoscale electrode, it allows for further penetration into the sample surface, thereby increasing or decreasing friction. (Image courtesy ORNL)

Friction impacts motion, hence the need to control friction forces. Currently, this is accomplished by mechanistic means or lubrication, but experiments conducted by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have uncovered a way of controlling friction on ionic surfaces at the nanoscale using electrical stimulation and ambient water vapor.

The research, which demonstrates a new physical effect, was undertaken at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at ORNL, and is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Our finding can have a significant technological impact on applications for both macroscopic and nanoscale devices,” said lead author Evgheni Strelcov. “Decreasing or increasing nanoscale friction at will and thus controlling mechanical energy losses and wear of a microelectromechanical system’s parts has enormous implications for applied energy research and opens a new vista for fundamental science studies.” [Read more…]

UT engineers helping ORNL with key sustainable energy riddle

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Alexander Papandrew and Gerd Duscher

Gerd Duscher, left, of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Alexander Papandrew, of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

KNOXVILLE—One of the key holdups in the march toward more efficient sustainable energy could soon be answered, thanks in part to researchers at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The College of Engineering’s Alexander Papandrew and Gerd Duscher are part of a broader Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team that recently received a $2.75 million U.S. Department of Energy grant for work on improving fuel cells, $1.4 million of which went to their project.

The basic premise of their work is to find a far more efficient way to turn chemical energy—in this case natural gas—into electrical energy. [Read more…]

‘Fracking,’ the environment to be discussed Monday

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Joanna McFarlane

Joanna McFarlane

A manager in the Fossil Energy Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss the environment and hydraulic fracturing, often referred to as “fracking,” during a Monday meeting.

Joanna McFarlane, who has a doctorate, is a manager for the RPSEA (Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America) and Environmentally Friendly Drilling in the Fossil Energy Program at ORNL.

She will give a presentation on “Hydraulic Fracturing and the Environment” during a meeting at 11:30 a.m. Monday, January 26. It’s a luncheon meeting of the AAUW Oak Ridge Branch. The group will meet in the Activities Building of First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Lafayette Drive. [Read more…]

UT-Battelle extends American Centrifuge agreement for uranium enrichment

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American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy USEC/Centrus Energy Corp.)

UT-Battelle, the contractor that operates Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has added another six months to an agreement being used to develop new uranium-enrichment technology through operations in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Piketon, Ohio.

The six-month extension was announced Friday by Centrus Energy Corporation, formerly known as USEC. UT-Battelle has exercised its option to extend the American Centrifuge Technology Demonstration and Operations Agreement, or ACTDO Agreement, by six months from March 31 to September 30, 2015, Centrus said.

ORNL had previously exercised an option to extend the agreement through March 31, 2015.

The six-month extension allows the continued demonstration and operation of the only uranium enrichment technology in the United States, Centrus said in a press release. [Read more…]

ORNL model explores location of future U.S. population growth

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ORNL Population Map

This 3-D visualization represents projected changes in U.S. population between 2010 and 2050 as predicted by a new Oak Ridge National Laboratory model. Areas seen in red indicate higher levels of population growth, whereas the vertical spikes signify population growth with new land development. (Image courtesy ORNL)

 

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a population distribution model that provides unprecedented county-level predictions of where people will live in the United States in the coming decades.

Initially developed to assist in the siting of new energy infrastructure, the team’s model has a broad range of implications from urban planning to climate change adaptation. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We do a census every 10 years because those data help us do long-term socioeconomic planning,” said Budhendra Bhaduri, who leads ORNL’s Geographic Information Science and Technology group. “Population projection numbers are important, but many pressing societal needs also require an understanding of where people are going to be. This has always been a challenge; we’ve never had a good method to make future projections spatially explicit.” [Read more…]