Oak Ridge Today

Work starts to increase power of SNS proton beam

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Construction work has started on a part of a project to double the power of the proton beam in the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It’s the first construction work at SNS since 2006. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Construction work has started on a part of a project to double the power of the proton beam in the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s the first construction work at the $1.4 billion SNS since 2006.

The current work is limited to what is known as the klystron gallery. It houses radio-frequency systems. They power the structures that are used to accelerate a negatively-charged hydrogen ion beam in the linear accelerator at SNS.

ORNL has previously said the klystron gallery construction could last about one year.

The work is part of a project called the proton power upgrade, or PPU. It will eventually double the power of the SNS proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts. That could be a seven-year project. The potential cost has previously been estimated at $245 million.

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ORNL making molds to help produce COVID-19 test tubes

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An example of a 3D printer, the Cincinnati Machine, is pictured above at work in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Dec. 29, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are making metal molds that companies will use to manufacture plastic tubes for COVID-19 test kits.

The work has been cited in two federal coronavirus task force press conferences at the White House this week.

On Monday, Brad Smith, a federal health official, said the ORNL work could help supply more than 40 million collection tubes per month in the next several weeks. Smith grew up in Knoxville, and he has been a business leader and entrepreneur, and served in Tennessee state government. He is now deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The ORNL work was also cited by President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The ORNL engineers are using additive manufacturing to produce the metal molds for the COVID-19 test kits. Additive manufacturing is the process of making an object by printing it with a material layer by layer. Printers known as 3D printers— some large, some small—can be used.

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ORNL researcher helps discover new species of cave snail

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Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail is less than two millimeters long. (Photo credit: ORNL/Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller)

A researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped discover a small cave snail.

The new snail species has been named the Tennessee cavesnail, or Antrorbis tennesseensis. Its name honors the state where it was found and the fact that several researchers involved in its discovery are affiliated with the University of Tennessee. A paper describing and naming the species was published in December.

The snail, which is less than two millimeters long, was found in two caves in Roane County a few miles south of the Oak Ridge Reservation. The reservation includes ORNL and parts of the city of Oak Ridge.

The snail is found on or under rocks far inside the caves, usually in streams that aren’t too muddy or silty, ORNL said. Researchers recommended that the species be listed as endangered.

The ORNL researcher is Evin Carter. He is a research associate and wildlife ecologist at ORNL, which is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. With only a handful of surveys completed so far, Carter has plans to survey the 40 or so other caves on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORNL said.

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UT-Battelle gets five-year extension to manage ORNL

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign
Photo by ORNL

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a five-year extension of UT-Battelle’s contract to manage and operate Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The five-year extension took effect Wednesday, April 1, ORNL said in a response to questions.

The value of the extension wasn’t immediately available.

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More than 60 percent of ORNL staff working remotely

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign
Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory

More than 60 percent of the 5,200 staff members at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are working remotely.

No staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, a contagious respiratory disease that has spread around the world and can be deadly. But ORNL does have employees that have been put in self-quarantine by the lab’s medical director. That includes staff members who believe they, or a member of their household, may have come in contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 or a person who has recently traveled to an area where widespread community spread of COVID-19 has been confirmed.

The remote work at ORNL is being done by staff members in a wide variety of jobs that include support functions like accounting, auditing, legal, technical editing, project management, and other activities, as well as researchers who can monitor data remotely or who are using the time to write or edit research publications and similar work, ORNL said in a response to questions on Wednesday.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 staff members continue to work on site, largely in facility operations positions that require hands-on tasks or monitoring, the lab said. These include technicians, front-line supervisors, electricians, firefighters, security personnel, and other types of workers.

“Some tasks have been shuffled to accommodate the need to work from home, but we are continuing to fulfill our mission commitments to the U.S. Department of Energy and the nation,” ORNL said.

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ORNL: Staff who can working from home. No travelers from foreign countries allowed for now.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory is directing staff members who can to work from home, and for now, the lab is not allowing travelers from foreign countries, regardless of nationality.

ORNL cafeterias will be open for carryout only.

In response to questions Tuesday, ORNL said it has not been notified that any staff member is presumed or confirmed to be COVID-19 positive. COVID-19 is the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus. The lab said it is taking proactive measures to reduce the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and to best protect themselves, their families, and their communities.

“Stopping the spread of the virus will prevent hospitals and other medical facilities from becoming overwhelmed by a spike in patients sickened by COVID-19,” ORNL said. “This is quite literally a life or death matter, and early action is key.”

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DOE plans to demolish world’s oldest operating nuclear facility

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Building 3019, the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to demolish the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world.

The cleanup and demolition of Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could start sometime around 2030.

But the work won’t start until more than 500 canisters of uranium-233 stored in the building have been processed and removed, possibly by 2025.

More than 70 years old, Building 3019 was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs.

From 1943-1976, the building was used as a pilot plant to test radiochemical processes before they were used on a large scale at other nuclear facilities.

Now Building 3019 stores the nation’s inventory of uranium-233. Processing and removing that uranium is the top cleanup priority at ORNL because, among other things, storing the highly enriched fissile nuclear material increases security costs and creates nuclear safety issues. The cleanup work is being done by DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor Isotek.

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With key isotopes depleted, DOE plans production center at ORNL

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The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed an isotope production and research center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could be important for medical, national security, and research projects.

In a budget request released in February, DOE said its supply of certain key enriched stable isotopes has been depleted, making the United States more dependent upon foreign imports for enriched stable isotopes. Isotopes are forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different number of neutrons in their nuclei.

DOE said the demand for enriched stable isotopes continues to grow substantially, including for the medical, national security, and fundamental research projects.

The new center at ORNL, the U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, would reduce the nation’s dependence upon foreign countries for those isotopes, DOE said.

DOE approved the mission need for the facility in January 2019. Although the cost range could change, the current project estimate is between $175 million and $298 million.

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ORNL supercomputer used to identify drug compounds that could help fight coronavirus

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A compound, shown in gray, was calculated to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, shown in cyan, to prevent it from docking to the Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, or ACE2, receptor, shown in purple. (Image credit: Micholas Smith/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:55 a.m.

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been used to identify drug compounds, including medications and natural compounds, that could help fight coronavirus, although more study is needed.

“The researchers used Summit, the world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputer, to identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds that might warrant further study in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for the COVID-19 disease outbreak,” ORNL said in a response to questions Wednesday.

The researchers performed simulations on Summit of more than 8,000 compounds to screen for those that are most likely to bind to the main “spike” protein of the coronavirus, rendering it unable to infect host cells. They ranked compounds of interest that could have value in experimental studies of the virus. They published their results on “ChemRxiv.”

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Next major decision anticipated for second target station at SNS

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SNS-Second-Target-Station
More than 200 scientists from around the world met from Oct. 27 to 29, 2015, at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide input on the scientific instruments that would be installed at a proposed Second Target Station, or STS, pictured above at center right at the Spallation Neutron Source. (File aerial photo and overlay by ORNL)

The next decision about the second target station at the Spallation Neutron Source could be made later this year or in the first quarter of next year, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told a House subcommittee on Thursday. The next decision would include an alternative selection and a cost range.

The $1.4 billion SNS is located on Chestnut Ridge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It provides neutrons for research.

The second target station has been part of SNS plans for many years. It’s one of two upgrades being pursued at SNS. The other is a proton power upgrade, which is expected to double the power of SNS’s proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts.

The second target station has a current estimated cost range of $800 million to $1.5 billion. The U.S. Department of Energy said the second target was needed more than a decade ago, in January 2009. The second target station would use a narrow proton beam and a compact, rotating, water-cooled tungsten target. It is expected to fill gaps in materials research that require the combined use of intense, cold (longer wavelength) neutrons and instruments that can help analyze complex materials. It could have up to 22 experimental beamlines.

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Fusion research: ORNL chosen for plasma materials experiment facility

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Scientists use a laser to align the plasma created at the Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) machine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo credit: Ted Biewer/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been chosen as the site of an experimental facility to test materials that would withstand the harsh conditions of the plasmas created in fusion devices, which, researchers hope, could eventually provide carbon-free energy to people around the world.

The proposed facility, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment facility, or MPEX, has an estimated cost range between $87 million and $175 million. It would be in an existing facility in an area at ORNL known as the Energy Systems Test Complex.

Fusion devices would use the same reactions that power the sun. Temperatures inside a fusion reactor could reach millions of degrees.

Scientists are studying materials that could withstand the conditions inside fusion reactors by exposing them to prototypical plasma conditions. Plasma, the heated matter created in a fusion device, has high-energy neutrons, electrons, and ions. MPEX would study materials that face the plasma. Finding materials capable of withstanding the harsh environment remains a major hurdle to using fusion to produce energy.

A critical decision for the MPEX facility was completed in early February by the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab. The critical decision, CD-1, is the second step in the five-step process that DOE uses to manage projects. The CD-1 decision included an alternative selection and a cost range.

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ORNL involved in early research on coronavirus

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory is involved in early research and using the Summit supercomputer to better understand components of the coronavirus. (Photo credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is involved in early research and using the Summit supercomputer to better understand components of the new coronavirus, which was first reported in China but is now being reported in a growing number of countries across the world, including the United States.

The early research at ORNL uses computational modeling and data analysis techniques on Summit, the world’s most powerful supercomputer. Results are not published yet, ORNL said Friday afternoon.

Oak Ridge Today has requested more information about the lab’s research, including who the work is for and what parts of the virus are being researched, but that information wasn’t immediately available.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is closely monitoring the outbreak of respiratory illnesses caused by the new coronavirus, and there are ongoing investigations to learn more.

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