By tweaking the formula for growing oxide thin films, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved virtual perfection at the interface of two insulator materials.
This finding, published in the journal Advanced Materials, could have significant ramifications for creation of novel materials with applications in energy and information technologies, leading to more efficient solar cells, batteries, solid oxide fuel cells, faster transistors, and more powerful capacitors.
The atomic resolution Z-contrast images show individual silicon atoms bonded differently in graphene. (Photo by ORNL)
Electron microscopy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing unprecedented views of the individual atoms in graphene, offering scientists a chance to unlock the material’s full potential for uses from engine combustion to consumer electronics.
Graphene crystals were first isolated in 2004. They are two-dimensional (one-atom in thickness), harder than diamonds and far stronger than steel, providing unprecedented stiffness and electrical and thermal properties. By viewing the atomic and bonding configurations of individual graphene atoms, scientists are able to suggest ways to optimize materials so they are better suited for specific applications.
B&W Y-12 Commercialization Manager Jeremy Benton, left, chats with STEM Scholarship winners Sara Lemmonds and Wes Jenkins, two Roane State Community College students who will split $5,000 in scholarships. (Photo courtesy of B&W Y-12)
B&W Y-12 recently awarded $5,000 in scholarships split between Roane State Community College freshmen Wes Jenkins and Sara Lemmonds, a press release said.
B&W Y-12 operates and manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The contractor said the scholarships are part of its effort to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education.
Recipients of the B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarship must be full-time students at Roane State pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields of study.
Jenkins is a Harriman High School graduate and plans to major in biology. Lemmonds graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is enrolled in the college’s pre-med program.
Despite a two-week shutdown in August, the Y-12 National Security Complex completed its work on a nuclear warhead refurbishment program by the end of September, the end of the federal fiscal year.
Questions were raised about the production schedule after a July 28 security breach by three anti-nuclear weapons activists, and a two-week shutdown in nuclear operations that quickly followed.
But Steven Wyatt, National Nuclear Security Administration public affairs manager at Y-12, said then that the plant still expected to meet its production milestones for the year.
Ellen Boatner, spokeswoman for managing and operating contractor B&W Y-12, confirmed on Wednesday that the work had been completed on time.
Note: This story was updated at 8:12 p.m.
Four small nuclear reactors could be built on the Clinch River in west Oak Ridge in about a decade under a federal award announced Tuesday.
In its announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy said it will invest up to half of the total cost of the project to design, license, and help commercialize the new small modular reactors, or SMRs. The investment will come through a five-year cost-sharing agreement.
The project will be led by The Babcock & Wilcox Co, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., and has a business unit that oversees the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The company’s partners on the SMR project are Bechtel and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have reported progress in fabricating advanced materials at the nanoscale. The spontaneous self-assembly of nanostructures composed of multiple elements paves the way toward materials that could improve a range of energy-efficient technologies and data storage devices.
ORNL Materials Science and Technology Division researcher Amit Goyal led the effort, combining theoretical and experimental studies to understand and control the self-assembly of insulating barium zirconium oxide nanodots and nanorods within barium-copper-oxide superconducting films.
The Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Los Alamos Historical Society launched a new website Friday titled “Voices of the Manhattan Project.”
“This is the first step in creating a national repository or directory for oral history collections of Manhattan Project veterans and their families,” the Atomic Heritage Foundation said. “With the Congress considering legislation to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park, this website, with its first-hand accounts of this top-secret project, will be an important resource for scholars, students and members of the public.”
Oak Ridge played a key role in the Manhattan Project, a top-secret program to build the world’s first nuclear weapons during World War II, and the website includes interviews with several people who worked in Oak Ridge during the war.
Pictured with Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, a Medal of Honor recipient, at the Y-12 National Security Complex History Center are Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Don Naab, left, Y-12’s Ray Smith, and WSI-Oak Ridge Deputy General Manager Jim Rackstraw. Rackstraw served with Crandall in Vietnam. (Photo by B&W Y-12)
Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall visited the Y-12 National Security Complex last week. Now retired from the U.S. Army, Crandall is one of 80 living Medal of Honor recipients.
Awarded the nation’s highest award for military valor, Crandall flew more than 900 combat missions during the Vietnam War. His bravery in rescuing wounded soldiers and bringing supplies to ground troops was memorialized in the book, “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” and in the film “We Were Soldiers.”
He was in East Tennessee to promote the 2014 Medal of Honor Convention, which will be hosted in the Oak Ridge-Knoxville area, and to promote the school program Character Counts.
Not only is Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Titan the world’s fastest supercomputer, it is also ranked third in energy efficiency. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)
Not only is Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Titan the world’s most powerful supercomputer, it is also one of the most energy-efficient.
Titan came in at number three on the Green500 list. Organized by Virginia Tech’s Wu-chun Feng and Kirk Cameron, the list takes the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers—as ranked by the Top500 list announced Monday—and reorders them according to how many calculations they can get per watt of electricity.
The Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now ranked as the world’s fastest. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)
The No. 1 ranking for the new Titan supercomputer, designating it as the most powerful in the world, was clearly appreciated in East Tennessee on Monday.
But even as they celebrated a return to the top spot, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the giant computer is based, said they are focused more on research than rankings.
“We love being No. 1,” said Bronson Messer, acting group leader for scientific computing at the National Center for Computational Science at ORNL. “It’s great recognition. But what really matters is what science will do with the machine.”
Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NVIDIA Corp.
The new Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now the world’s fastest, according to a Top 500 list released this morning.
A Cray XK7 system, Titan achieved 17.59 petaflops on a benchmark test, equal to more than 17,000 trillion calculations each second, a press release said.
Titan knocked Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Sequoia from the No. 1 spot and into second place. Sequoia is an IBM BlueGene/Q system, and it was No. 1 in June with 16.32 petaflops.
MK Technologies CEO and founder Mike Carroll and director of strategic development and acquisition Chris Van Beke met Y-12 chemist and inventor Ron Simandl in his Y-12 laboratory to see the SIMWyPES production process along with a sampling of its numerous applications. From left, Simandl shows Van Beke and Carroll two of a variety of items enhanced with SIMWyPES technology. (Submitted photo)
A Knoxville engineering resources firm recently became the newest licensee of technology developed at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a press release said.
MK Technologies Corporation is now the exclusive commercial patent licensee of SIMWyPES, a method of enhancing cleaning items so they leave dry surfaces ultraclean.
The environmentally friendly method of removing contamination on a nanoscale level incorporates a highly effective nontoxic proprietary treatment that transfers no residue to cleaned surfaces. A variety of items including cloths, swabs, polishers, filters, and sponges can be treated. The company plans to start production in 2013.
Y-12 senior chemist Ron Simandl had the lead in inventing this technology, which was originally developed to remove residual amounts of unwanted particulates from dry, solid surfaces. Engineered to permeate the cleaning medium suited to the job at hand, it can be employed to remove submicron particles in a wide range of manufacturing industries in which surface cleanliness and air purification are critical.
The method also has a wide range of household applications, several of which are of particular interest to the licensee. Specific uses around the home include removing brake dust and dry road dirt from alloy wheels, preparing surfaces for painting, filtering air flow, dry-mopping floors, and dusting.
Simandl, a 35-year Y-12 employee, holds 11 U.S. patents. Two of his inventions have won R&D 100 awards, one of which was for this newly licensed technology.
The coveted R&D 100 awards, considered “Oscars of Invention,” are given annually to the world’s top 100 innovations as determined by R&D Magazine. SIMWyPES earned the award in 2008.
Regarding the method’s development, Simandl noted that “the trick was finding the right combination of ingredients.”
MK Technologies CEO and founder Mike Carroll said: “This technology is synergistic with our existing products that improve safety in industrial processes and safely remediate and handle toxic materials. We also plan to use it to create more effective filters for use in medical facilities to help prevent the spread of infection and in public spaces to help contain the spread of diseases or biological agents. We are especially excited about uses that benefit the everyday consumer. This technology will help make personal environments safer and will make cleaning activities more effective. Its versatility is impressive.”
