Oak Ridge Today

ORNL names associate lab director for neutron sciences

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jens Dilling (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Jens Dilling has been named associate laboratory director for the Neutron Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective April 1.

“ORNL pioneered neutron scattering in the 1940s, developing a new technique that enables scientists to explore and create new materials, batteries, and more,” ORNL Director Stephen Streiffer said. “Today, ORNL remains at the forefront of this science, and Jens will play a critical role in ensuring the nation’s leading neutron sources continue to deliver significant scientific impact for the United States and the world.”

Dilling has served as interim associate laboratory director for neutron sciences since August 1. He leads more than 700 employees at the High Flux Isotope Reactor and Spallation Neutron Source—two of the most powerful scientific research facilities in the world—as well as in projects focused on improving the lab’s neutron capabilities.

“Dilling demonstrated strong leadership in his interim role and will continue the (Neutron Sciences Directorate) team’s efforts to expand the scientific impact of the lab’s neutron sources while also growing the neutron user community across the United States,” ORNL said.

Neutron scattering uses beams of neutrons (parts of atoms that have no charge) that pass through samples. Detectors collect information about where (and possibly when) the neutrons are scattered to learn more about the materials. The Spallation Neutron Source uses a particle accelerator to send protons (positively charged parts of atoms) to collide with a heavy metal target to produce the neutrons in a process known as spallation. Meanwhile, at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, neutrons are produced by a nuclear reactor.

ORNL said neutron scattering is used in industries that include automotive, aerospace, steel, defense, industrial materials, energy storage, data storage, and biomedicine. Researchers use the process to find stronger glass for mobile devices, drugs that treat diseases more effectively, aircraft and rocket engines that are more reliable, vehicles with better gas mileage, better armor for the military, and batteries that are safer, charge faster, and last longer.

Dilling is an experimental nuclear physicist with “more than 20 years delivering breakthroughs in fundamental and applied nuclear physics,” the lab said. He started at ORNL in 2021, serving as director of Institutional Strategic Planning. In 2023, he took a joint faculty appointment as a research professor in the Department of Physics at Duke University, a core university of UT-Battelle LLC, the partnership that operates ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Before ORNL, Dilling worked for two decades at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for accelerator sciences at the University of British Columbia. He started at TRIUMF in 2001 as a research scientist before moving into various leadership positions, concluding his tenure as the associate laboratory director for physical sciences, a press release said.

Dilling earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, or APS, and received the APS Francis M. Pipkin Award, the Vogt Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists, or CAP, and the Rutherford Memorial Medal from the Royal Society of Canada for “breakthrough discoveries in the field of experimental nuclear physics studying the fine details of the interactions of the atomic building blocks, the nucleons.” He is a professional member of APS, the German Physical Society, CAP, the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Many news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today!

Alternatively, you can donate to support our work here. Thank you for your support!

Copyright 2024 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For members: Construction planned for SNS power upgrade

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Construction is planned in December for a project to upgrade proton power at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The construction could last about one year, and it will be limited to the buildout of what is known as the klystron gallery, ORNL said in June. The klystron gallery houses the radio-frequency systems that power the structures used to accelerate a negatively-charged hydrogen ion beam in the linear accelerator at SNS.


The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Construction is planned in December for a project to upgrade proton power at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The construction could last about one year, and it will be limited to the buildout of what is known as the klystron gallery, ORNL said in June. The klystron gallery houses the radio-frequency systems that power the structures used to accelerate a negatively-charged hydrogen ion beam in the linear accelerator at SNS.

SNS generates neutrons for scientific research by propelling protons down a linear accelerator. When the protons collide with a liquid mercury target, they create a “spall” of neutrons that are sent down beam lines surrounded by research instruments.

The proton power upgrade will eventually double the power of the SNS proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts. The current total estimated project cost is $245 million.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.  Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Neutron production at ORNL’s SNS reaches design power level

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

  The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has broken a new record by ending its first neutron production cycle in fiscal year 2019 at its design power level of 1.4 megawatts. Higher power provides more neutrons for researchers who use the facility to study a wide range of materials, an ORNL press release said. The achievement marks a new operational milestone for neutron scattering in the United States and opens the door to studying significantly smaller materials with greater complexity, the press release said. “The operation of SNS at 1.4 megawatts this cycle has been an outstanding achievement,” said Paul Langan, associate laboratory director for neutron sciences. “It reflects on the maturity of our facility and the high level of technical excellence of our engineering, operational, and scientific staff.” The power increase was enabled by the combination of extensive improvements to the linear accelerator, including the recent replacement of the radio frequency quadrupole—the first accelerating structure of the accelerator’s frontend assembly, as well as improvements to the liquid mercury target. [Read more…]

For first time in 30 years, Savannah River dissolving spent nuclear fuel from ORNL reactor

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The reactor pool is pictured above in the reactor bay inside the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Spent nuclear fuel is stored inside the pool. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The reactor pool is pictured above in the reactor bay inside the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Spent nuclear fuel is stored inside the pool. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

For the first time in 30 years, spent nuclear fuel from the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been dissolved at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The work is important because it is expected to allow the reactor, known as HFIR, to continue its mission, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

HFIR, which uses highly enriched uranium, is one of the world’s most powerful nuclear research reactor facilities. It’s the highest flux reactor-based source of neutrons for research in the United States. Flux refers to the rate of flow of fluids, particles, or energy. In HFIR’s case, the flux is measured in neutrons per square centimeter per second. HFIR is used for neutron scattering and isotope production, among other missions.

ORNL will reach its maximum capacity for storing HFIR fuel in fiscal year 2020, the DOE Office of Environmental Management, or EM, said in an “EM Update” electronic newsletter on Tuesday. [Read more…]

ORNL pursuing two major upgrades at SNS

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

An aerial view of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

An aerial view of the Spallation Neutron Source on Chestnut Ridge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m. Aug. 1.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is pursuing two major upgrades to its Spallation Neutron Source that would allow new scientific research and could cost more than $1 billion.

The two proposed upgrades are a proton power upgrade and a second target station. The two projects are in different stages of review at the U.S. Department of Energy, ORNL spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said.

The proton power upgrade, or PPU, is being pursued first, and its current cost estimate is a little more than $200 million, McCorkle said. If approved, it would double the power of SNS’s proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts.

The upgrade would allow new types of research at SNS, and it would increase the number of scientists who can use the facility each year, McCorkle said.

“The PPU will enable experiments that are not currently feasible, such as experiments on smaller or less concentrated samples, and experiments under more extreme environmental conditions,” McCorkle said. “The new scientific capabilities will support research in areas such as soft matter, quantum materials, chemistry, functional materials, and biology. Some examples of everyday products that may be improved by these discoveries include cell phones, batteries, computers, building materials, and drugs.”

The proton power upgrade would also eventually provide the extra power necessary for the proposed second target station, or STS. The design of the second target station is less mature, but the project could cost in the range of $1 billion and include about 300,000 square feet of new buildings, McCorkle said. The second target station would be on the east end of the SNS campus on Chestnut Ridge at ORNL.

[Read more…]

Name of new element, tennessine, recognizes state’s contributions, including at ORNL

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

tennessine-logo-final

The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named “tennessine” in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee.

“The presence of tennessine on the Periodic Table is an affirmation of our state’s standing in the international scientific community, including the facilities ORNL provides to that community as well as the knowledge and expertise of the laboratory’s scientists and technicians,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a press release.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC, gave its final approval to the name “tennessine” following a year-long process that began December 30, 2015, when IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics announced verification of the existence of the superheavy element 117. That was more than five years after scientists first reported its discovery in April 2010.

IUPAC validates the existence of newly discovered elements and approves their official names.

ORNL had several roles in the discovery, the most prominent being production of the radioisotope berkelium-249 for the search. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers discover new state of water molecule

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

berylCoverImage_horz

ORNL researchers discovered that water in beryl displays some unique and unexpected characteristics. (Photo by Jeff Scovil)

 

Neutron scattering and computational modeling have revealed unique and unexpected behavior of water molecules under extreme confinement that is unmatched by any known gas, liquid, or solid states.

In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory describe a new tunneling state of water molecules confined in hexagonal ultra-small channels—5 angstrom across—of the mineral beryl. An angstrom is 1/10-billionth of a meter, and individual atoms are typically about 1 angstrom in diameter.

The discovery, made possible with experiments at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom, demonstrates features of water under ultra confinement in rocks, soil, and cell walls, which scientists predict will be of interest across many disciplines.

“At low temperatures, this tunneling water exhibits quantum motion through the separating potential walls, which is forbidden in the classical world,” said lead author Alexander Kolesnikov of ORNL’s Chemical and Engineering Materials Division. “This means that the oxygen and hydrogen atoms of the water molecule are ‘delocalized’ and therefore simultaneously present in all six symmetrically equivalent positions in the channel at the same time. It’s one of those phenomena that only occur in quantum mechanics and has no parallel in our everyday experience.” [Read more…]

Looking ahead: SNS users visit to discuss next-generation target station at ORNL

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

SNS-Second-Target-Station

More than 200 scientists from around the world met from October 27 to 29 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, at the Spallation Neutron Source, which is pictured above. (Aerial photo and overlay by ORNL)

 

More than 200 scientists from around the world met from October 27 to 29 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, at the Spallation Neutron Source.

The workshop—which was organized by ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate and drew researchers from 56 universities, research institutions, and other national laboratories—aimed to define the capabilities needed to ensure the next-generation neutron source meets the biggest science challenges.

The Spallation Neutron Source is a DOE Office of Science User Facility that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. [Read more…]

Four ORNL researchers elected fellows of American Physical Society

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jaime Fernandez-Baca

Jaime Fernandez-Baca (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Four researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society, one of the nation’s top professional organizations for scientists.

Jaime Fernandez-Baca, Sergei Kalinin, Mark Lumsden, and Thomas Maier were selected for the honor by the APS Council of Representatives. They will be formally recognized at the APS’s March meeting.

Fernandez-Baca, a distinguished research staff member in the Quantum Condensed Matter Division in ORNL’s Neutron Science Directorate, was recognized by the APS Division of Materials Physics “for seminal neutron scattering studies of magnetic materials, especially the spin and lattice dynamics of colossal magnetoresistive manganites.”

Fernandez-Baca’s research is performed mainly at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, where he is the lead for the Triple Axis Spectroscopy group. His expertise is in the study of the magnetic ordering and spin dynamics of complex oxides and related alloys using neutron scattering techniques.

He was the recipient of the International Atomic Energy Agency fellowship, the DOE Office of Science Outstanding Mentor Award (2008), and the Neutron Scattering Society of America Distinguished Service Award (2014). [Read more…]

High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL named Nuclear Historic Landmark

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL

The High Flux Isotope Reactor vessel at Oak Ridge National Laboratory resides in a pool of water illuminated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation effect. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

The High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, now in its 48th year of providing neutrons for research and isotope production at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been designated a Nuclear Historic Landmark by the American Nuclear Society.

“This designation from the ANS recognizes HFIR’s role in the history of the nuclear age, but it also speaks to the excellence of its design and operation,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said. “HFIR remains one of the world’s most capable reactor-based neutron science, radioisotope production, and materials irradiation facilities, and we expect that to continue for many years.”

The designation was proposed by the ANS honors and awards committee and approved on initial ballot by the board of directors.

“The ANS Nuclear Historic Landmark signifies that a nuclear facility has played an important role in nuclear science and engineering,” ANS President Michaele C. Brady Raap said. “HFIR, with its preeminent role in isotope production and neutron science, certainly meets that criteria.”

The reactor was conceived in the late 1950s as a production reactor to meet anticipated demand for transuranic isotopes (“heavy” elements such as plutonium and curium). HFIR today is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility and one of the world’s sole sources of the radioisotope californium-252, used in industry and medicine. ORNL is a DOE lab. [Read more…]

UT, ORNL scientists’ discoveries could help neutralize chemical weapons

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Enzyme Figure

Nerve agent sarin bound to bioscavenger enzyme. (Image courtesy University of Tennessee)

KNOXVILLE—Researchers at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are a step closer to creating a prophylactic drug that would neutralize the deadly effects of the chemical weapons used in Syria and elsewhere.

Jeremy Smith, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair and an expert in computational biology, is part of the team that is trying to engineer enzymes—called bioscavengers—so they work more efficiently against chemical weapons. The work is a joint effort between scientists at UT, ORNL, and a French national laboratory in Grenoble. Their study was published recently in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Nerve agents, such as sarin, are among the most highly toxic chemical weapons. The study focuses on engineering enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of nerve agents as a prophylactic approach to diminishing their toxic effects. [Read more…]

ORNL uses neutron scattering, supercomputing to study biofuel production

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lignocellulosic Biomass

This graphical representation of lignocellulosic biomass based on supercomputer models illustrates a new Oak Ridge National Laboratory study about the inner workings of plant cell walls during bioenergy production. (Image credit: Thomas Splettstoesser; http://www.scistyle.com)

Researchers studying more effective ways to convert woody plant matter into biofuels at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified fundamental forces that change plant structures during pretreatment processes used in the production of bioenergy.

The research team, which published its results in Green Chemistry, set out to decipher the inner workings of plant cell walls during pretreatment, the most expensive stage of biofuel production. Pretreatment subjects plant material to extremely high temperature and pressure to break apart the protective gel of lignin and hemicellulose that surrounds sugary cellulose fibers. [Read more…]