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Millennial Nuclear Caucus in Oak Ridge on Friday

Posted at 10:58 pm June 20, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

A Millennial Nuclear Caucus is scheduled in Oak Ridge on Friday. It will be hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy in conjunction with co-sponsors, and it is scheduled from 7:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Scarboro Road.

The Millennial Nuclear Caucuses are a series of events that bring together the next generation of leaders in nuclear innovation, a media advisory said.

“They feature discussions on the path forward for the nuclear industry and the role innovative technology will play,” the advisory said. “Participants at the events represent the full spectrum of the nuclear field, including young leaders supporting the existing fleet, those designing small modular and advanced reactors, and those advocating for a thriving nuclear future.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Millennial Nuclear Caucus, New Hope Center, nuclear industry, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy

ORNL nuclear engineer selected for national reactor development position

Posted at 3:56 pm July 26, 2017
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has selected ORNL’s Lou Qualls to serve as national technical director for molten salt reactors. (Photo courtesy DOE/ORNL)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has selected ORNL’s Lou Qualls to serve as national technical director for molten salt reactors. (Photo courtesy DOE/ORNL)

 

By Jason Ellis, ORNL Communications

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has selected Lou Qualls of Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the national technical director for molten salt reactors, or MSRs. In his new role, Qualls—a nuclear engineer who joined ORNL in 1988—will serve as a liaison among the nuclear industry, the national laboratory system, and DOE in defining the future of MSR technology in the United States.

The new position was created in response to the private sector’s growing interest in MSRs as the next generation of power reactors. A significant number of nuclear plants are expected to close beginning in 2030, with most closed by 2045, as their operating licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission expire. Various companies are pursuing new reactor designs to replace this loss of nuclear energy, which is the nation’s largest source of carbon-free energy and represents approximately one-fifth of electricity generated in the United States.

“There are about 10 U.S. companies developing MSR designs in hopes of seeing their technologies make it onto the grid,” Qualls said. “My job is to work with these vendors and DOE to understand how each design could fit into the energy market and to identify hurdles that could prevent these reactors from ever delivering electricity. It’s a positive step that shows the level of excitement from industry, DOE, and the national labs.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: advanced reactor designs, advanced reactor technologies, DOE, Jason Ellis, Lou Qualls, Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, molten salt reactors, MSRs, nuclear industry, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Energy, ORNL, power reactors, U.S. Department of Energy

ORNL supports new projects to develop advanced nuclear technologies

Posted at 3:17 am January 22, 2016
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will support two new DOE-funded projects to explore, develop, and demonstrate advanced nuclear reactor technologies.

The projects announced January 15 will allow industry-led teams with participants from universities and national laboratories to further nuclear energy technology, and will enable companies to further develop their advanced reactor designs with potential for demonstration in the mid-2030s. Initially, DOE’s investment will be $6 million for each project and both companies will provide cost-share. The possible multi-year cost-share value for this research is up to $80 million.

A project led by Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Company, focuses on molten chloride fast reactors, or MCFRs. The effort includes ORNL, TerraPower, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Vanderbilt University. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: advanced reactor designs, BWX Technologies Inc., DOE, Electric Power Research Institute, Idaho National Laboratory, MCFR, molten chloride fast reactors, Molten Salt Reator Experiment, nuclear energy technology, nuclear reactor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Energy, Oregon State University, ORNL, SGL Group, Southern Company, Southern Company Services, Teledyne-Brown Engineering, TerraPower, U.S. Department of Energy, Vanderbilt University, X-energy

ORNL technique could set new course for extracting uranium from seawater

Posted at 1:41 pm December 17, 2015
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

ORNL-TOC-Graphic

Using high-energy X-rays, researchers discovered uranium is bound by adsorbent fibers in an unanticipated fashion. (Image by ORNL)

 

An ultra-high-resolution technique used for the first time to study polymer fibers that trap uranium in seawater may cause researchers to rethink the best methods to harvest this potential fuel for nuclear reactors.

The work of a team led by Carter Abney, a Wigner Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, shows that the polymeric adsorbent materials that bind uranium behave nothing like scientists had believed. The results, gained through collaboration with the University of Chicago and detailed in a paper published in Energy and Environmental Science, highlight data made possible with X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopy performed at the Advanced Photon Source. The APS is a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory.

“Despite the low concentration of uranium and the presence of many other metals extracted from seawater, we were able to investigate the local atomic environment around uranium and better understand how it is bound by the polymer fibers,” Abney said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Advanced Photon Source, APS, Argonne National Laboratory, Carter Abney, DOE Office of Science, Energy and Environmental Science, extracting uranium, Gabriel Veith, Marek Piechowicz, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Centre, nuclear reactors, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Energy, ORNL, Richard Mayes, Sheng Dai, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Chicago, uranium, Vyacheslav Bryantsev, Wenbin Lin, Zekai Lin

ORNL, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics cooperate on salt-cooled reactors

Posted at 7:48 pm March 22, 2015
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

ORNL and SINAP Salt-cooled Test Reactors

Representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) met at ORNL to discuss plans for building a salt-cooled test reactor. Pictured in front of ORNL’s molten salt test loop are (from left) David Felde, ORNL; Yang Zou, SINAP; Guanyuan Wu, SINAP; Xiaohan Yu, SINAP; Naxiu Wan, SINAP; Zhimin Dai, SINAP; David Holcomb, ORNL; Kun Chen, SINAP; Kevin Robb, ORNL; Mike Laufer, University of California at Berkeley; Guimin Liu, SINAP; and Weiju Ren, ORNL. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics met at ORNL last week as part of an agreement between the two institutions to work together on the advancement of salt-cooled nuclear reactor technologies.

At the meeting, SINAP staff members were expected to describe their plans for building the first salt-cooled test reactor, and the two sides began planning the next steps in the shared research project.

The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, between ORNL and SINAP focuses on accelerating scientific understanding and technical development of salt-cooled reactors, specifically fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors, or FHRs. The project will draw on ORNL’s expertise in fuels, materials, instrumentation and controls, design concepts, and modeling and simulation for advanced reactors, as well as the lab’s experience in the design, construction and operation of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, the only molten salt reactor ever built. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Advanced Reactor Technologies Program, CAS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, cooperative research and development agreement, CRADA, DOE, FHR, FHR test reactor, fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors, memorandum of understanding, Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, Nuclear Energy Sciences and Technologies Cooperation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Energy, ORNL, salt-cooled nuclear reactor, salt-cooled reactors, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, SINAP, test reactor, U.S. Department of Energy

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

Posted at 8:31 pm January 22, 2015
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Amy Rose, Budhendra Bhaduri, Eddie Bright, Geographic Information Science and Technology, Jacob McKee, LandScan Global, LandScan USA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Energy, ORNL, population, population map, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Timmy Huynh, Urban Dynamics Institute

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