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General Fusion locating U.S. headquarters in Oak Ridge

Posted at 8:21 am November 11, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

General Fusion Corporation will locate its U.S. headquarters in Oak Ridge as the company advances plans for a commercial pilot plant, Tennessee officials and company executives announced Wednesday.

The headquarters decision was announced Wednesday by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and General Fusion Corporation executives.

General Fusion Corporation is based in Vancouver, Canada. The company says fusion could provide a carbon-free power source that would meet the growing global energy demand while fighting climate change.

The U.S.-based subsidiary of General Fusion Incorporated will initially invest $539,000 and create 20 new jobs in Anderson County during the next five years, a press release said. It’s the first private fusion company to establish an office in Tennessee, General Fusion said. The new headquarters in Oak Ridge will be near Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a science and energy lab that is home to the U.S. ITER program. ITER is an experimental fusion device being built in southern France through an international collaboration and planned to be the first such device to produce net energy.

In Oak Ridge, General Fusion said it will collaborate with “world-leading fusion scientists and tap into key engineering talent.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Bill Lee, Christofer Mowry, Chuck Fleischmann, fusion, General Fusion, ITER, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL

Fusion research: ORNL chosen for plasma materials experiment facility

Posted at 6:29 pm March 1, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: DOE, fusion, fusion experiment, fusion materials, fusion plasma, fusion power, fusion reactor, International Tokamak Experimental Reasctor, ITER, Juergen Rapp, Materials Plasma eXposure Experiment, MPEX, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, plasma, Proto-MPEX, U.S. Department of Energy

Friday lecture: Man’s quest for fusion, the role of ITER

Posted at 12:15 pm May 18, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Mark Henderson

Mark Henderson

A member of the technical staff at ITER, a magnetic fusion device in southern France, will discuss man’s quest for fusion and the role of ITER in a Friday evening lecture in Oak Ridge.

The lecture starts at 6 p.m. Friday, May 20, at the American Museum of Science and Energy. It will be by Mark Henderson, member of the Technical Staff, ITER Organization in St. Paul-les-Durrance, France.

Henderson will provide a first-hand account of the wide scope of technologies involved in operation of the ITER tokamak (the magnetic fusion device), as well as the current status of design, development, and construction of the experimental fusion facility, a press release said. ITER is the only fusion device in the world that is presently being designed to achieve a burning plasma of hydrogen isotopes. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Meetings and Events, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: American Museum of Science and Energy, fusion, fusion device, ITER, magnetic fusion, Mark Henderson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, tokamak, US ITER

Chief engineer for U.S. ITER at ORNL to give project overview on Tuesday

Posted at 9:21 am March 10, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson

The chief engineer for the U.S. ITER Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give a project overview on Tuesday.

Brad Nelson is the chief engineer for the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project. His Tuesday talk will be the first in a series of three presentations on the U.S. ITER project to Friends of ORNL, with Hans Vogel speaking on April 8 and Graeme Murdoch speaking on May 13.

The New Yorker published a story on ITER in its March 3 edition titled “A Star in a Bottle” by Raffi Khatchadourian.

Nelson’s Tuesday presentation during a Friends of ORNL luncheon lecture starts at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science Tagged With: A Star in a Bottle, Brad Nelson, Cadarache, China, European Union, France, Friends of ORNL, fusion, fusion device, fusion power, Graeme Murdoch, Hans Vogel, hardware, India, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, Japan, Korea, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, Raffi Khatchadourian, Russia, The New Yorker, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. ITER, United States, University of Tennessee Resource Center

Nuclear goes Hollywood: New film sheds light on old debate

Posted at 5:47 pm July 24, 2013
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory 9 Comments

Pandora's Promise Panel Discussion

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…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Federal, Government, Movies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories Tagged With: Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, Doug Kothe, environmental, film, fission, fusion, Gordon Petersen, ITER, Jeff Binder, Lawrence Townsend, Mike Cohen, Ned Sauthoff, Nuclear Energy, nuclear engineering, nuclear power, nuclear reactors, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Pandora’s Promise, Regal Cinemas Downtown West, Robert J. Whalen, Robert S. Eby, Robert Stone, small modular reactor, SMR, Tennessee Valley Authority, United States Enrichment Corporation, University of Tennessee, USEC, utilities

Alexander unveils his four principles for clean, cheap, reliable energy

Posted at 6:08 pm May 29, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.

The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.

The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Business, East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Roane County, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: advanced biofuels, ARPA-E, cap-and-trade, carbon capture, clean energy, electric vehicles, energy independence, Energy Innovation Hubs, energy policy, free market, fusion, Germany, grand principles, green buildings, Lamar Alexander, Manhattan Project, New Hope Center, nuclear waste, renewable energy, Republican, research and development, solar power, subsidies, Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit, U.S. Department of Energy, wind power, Y-12 National Security Complex

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