Spallation Neutron Source Archives

Neutron production at ORNL’s SNS reaches design power level

Posted at 2:05 pm December 3, 2018
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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…]

SNS completes full neutron production cycle at record power level

Posted at 3:31 pm August 9, 2018
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As protons (pink) strike the target vessel and pass into the liquid mercury inside, the protons are absorbed, creating neutrons (blue) that are then sent through moderators and beam tubes to research instruments to study the fundamental properties of materials. (Image credit: Jill Hemman/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

The Spallation Neutron Source at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached a new milestone by operating a complete neutron production run cycle at 1.3 megawatts, a press release said.

“Achieving the record power level with a remarkable 94 percent accelerator beam availability establishes a new baseline of operation as well as a path to operate reliably at higher powers,” the press release said. “Increased power offers researchers the ability to conduct faster scientific analyses using neutrons on more types of materials.”

SNS, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, began operations in 2006 and is currently the world’s most powerful pulsed accelerator-based neutron scattering facility, used by scientists to reveal fundamental properties and behaviors of energy and materials at the atomic scale. Neutron contributions at SNS have resulted in advances in electronic devices, improved drug delivery, and stronger building materials for transportation infrastructure, the press release said. [Read more…]

Public can tour parts of ORNL, celebrate 75 years on Lab Day (June 9)

Posted at 4:46 pm April 27, 2018
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The public will have a chance to tour parts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and help celebrate the lab’s 75th anniversary on Saturday, June 9, 2018. (Photo by ORNL)

The public will have a chance to tour parts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and help celebrate the lab’s 75th anniversary on Saturday, June 9.

The event will include family-friendly activities, tours, demonstrations, and talks, a press release said.

The “75 Years of Science: Lab Day at ORNL” special event will give the public an opportunity to visit world-leading scientific facilities such as the Spallation Neutron Source and the Titan supercomputer, see one of the world’s first nuclear reactors, and interact with research staff, the press release said.

“The pioneering research of ORNL scientists and engineers has played a pivotal role in our nation’s history and continues to shape our future,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said. “We look forward to welcoming the community to celebrate with us as we pursue another 75 years of leadership in science.”

Registration is required to attend the June 9 event. Advance registration for U.S citizens and non-U.S. citizens, ages 6 and up, will open Tuesday, May 1, and close Friday, May 11, at https://75thanniversary.ornl.gov/register/. Space is limited, and registration will close earlier than May 11 if all space is allotted. A limited number of day-of registration spots will be available for U.S. citizens only. [Read more…]

ORNL: Neutrons peer into a running engine

Posted at 3:25 pm September 3, 2017
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Researchers used neutrons to probe a running engine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source, giving them the opportunity to test an aluminum-cerium alloy under operating conditions. From left, researchers Orlando Rios, Ke An, and Lt. Eric Stromme show off a cylinder head made from the new alloy. (Photo by ORNL/U.S. Department of Energy)

By Ashley C. Huff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In a first-of-a-kind experiment, researchers used neutrons to investigate the performance of a new aluminum alloy in a gasoline-powered engine—while the engine was running.

A team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with industry partners to perform the test, which looked at whether a high-performance alloy that is promising for automotive applications held up under the heat and stress of an internal combustion engine.

Researchers used neutrons to probe a running engine at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, giving them the opportunity to test an aluminum-cerium alloy under operating conditions.

The feat was a first for the Spallation Neutron Source, said Ke An, lead instrument scientist for the facility’s VULCAN instrument.

“This was the first time an internal combustion engine has been run on our diffractometer, and, as far as we know, on any other,” he said. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers turn to ‘deep learning’ to solve science’s big data problem

Posted at 2:56 pm September 3, 2017
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Scientists will use Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s computing resources such as the Titan supercomputer to develop deep learning solutions for data analysis. (Photo credit: Jason Richards/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

By Scott Jones, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A team of researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been awarded nearly $2 million over three years from the U.S. Department of Energy to explore the potential of machine learning in revolutionizing scientific data analysis.

The Advances in Machine Learning to Improve Scientific Discovery at Exascale and Beyond (ASCEND) project aims to use deep learning to assist researchers in making sense of massive datasets produced at the world’s most sophisticated scientific facilities. Deep learning is an area of machine learning that uses artificial neural networks to enable self-learning devices and platforms. The team, led by ORNL’s Thomas Potok, includes Robert Patton, Chris Symons, Steven Young, and Catherine Schuman.

While deep learning has long been used to classify relatively simple data such as photographs, today’s scientific data presents a much greater challenge because of its size and complexity. Deep learning offers the potential to truly change the way in which researchers use massive datasets to solve challenges spanning the scientific spectrum.

For example, neutron scattering data collected at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source contain rich scientific information about structure and dynamics of materials under investigation, and deep learning could help researchers better understand the link between experimental data and materials properties.

“This understanding can help scientists build and support new scientific theories, and help to design better materials,” Potok said. [Read more…]

Breakfast Rotary welcomes ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia

Posted at 1:53 pm August 14, 2017
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Thomas Zacharia (Photo courtesy D. Ray Smith)

Submitted

The Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club welcomed Thomas Zacharia, director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to its August 9 breakfast meeting. Zacharia became director of ORNL on July 1, 2017, after a long and successful career with ORNL beginning in 1987 as a postdoctoral researcher and culminating in his recent appointment as director.

His professional career at ORNL spans many fields with a special focus in materials research and computational sciences. In his comments to the club, he outlined his long-term expectations for ORNL and its critical role in supporting U.S. Department of Energy missions to advance science and technology in such areas as high-performance computing, advanced materials, nuclear power, and national security.

In addition, Thomas stated he expects ORNL will continue to expand its role in transferring ORNL technologies to industry in the local area and across the nation. ORNL scientific discoveries are expected to continue to help make our economy more competitive in world markets. [Read more…]

ORNL: World’s smallest neutrino detector finds big physics fingerprint

Posted at 9:37 am August 8, 2017
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

From left, Professor Yuri Efremenko of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Jason Newby of Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among 80 participants in COHERENT, a large, collaborative, particle physics experiment to record neutrinos at the Spallation Neutron Source. Photomultiplier tubes look like giant light bulbs and are used to detect light from neutrino interactions in detectors. COHERENT’s cesium iodide detector, the first to espy neutrinos at the SNS, employs a five-inch (13-centimeter) wide photomultiplier tube. An eight-inch (20-centimeter) wide photomultiplier (shown here) is deployed in COHERENT’s nearby liquid-argon detector. Measurements from different types of detectors are necessary for comprehensive studies of neutrinos at SNS. The scientists are standing in front of the cesium-iodide-detector shielding. (Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy; photographer Genevieve Martin)

By Dawn Levy/ORNL

After more than a year of operation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the COHERENT experiment, using the world’s smallest neutrino detector, has found a big fingerprint of the elusive, electrically neutral particles that interact only weakly with matter.

The research, performed at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source and published in the journal Science, provides compelling evidence for a neutrino interaction process predicted by theorists 43 years ago but never seen.

“The one-of-a-kind particle physics experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the first to measure coherent scattering of low-energy neutrinos off nuclei,” said ORNL physicist Jason Newby, technical coordinator and one of 11 ORNL participants in COHERENT, a collaboration of 80 researchers from 19 institutions and four nations.

The SNS produces neutrons for scientific research and also generates a high flux of neutrinos as a byproduct. Placing the detector at SNS a mere 65 feet (20 meters) from the neutrino source vastly improved the chances of interactions and allowed the researchers to decrease the detector’s weight to just 32 pounds (14.5 kilograms). In comparison, most neutrino detectors weigh thousands of tons: although they are continuously exposed to solar, terrestrial, and atmospheric neutrinos, they need to be massive because the interaction odds are more than 100 times lower than at SNS.

The scientists are the first to detect and characterize coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei. This long-sought confirmation, predicted in the particle physics Standard Model, measures the process with enough precision to establish constraints on alternative theoretical models. [Read more…]

ORNL pursuing two major upgrades at SNS

Posted at 1:39 pm July 27, 2017
By John Huotari 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…]

He once called for eliminating DOE. Now Secretary Perry pledges to be an advocate.

Posted at 12:51 am May 23, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D printed personal utility vehicle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D-printed utility vehicle, or PUV, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. May 24.

HARDIN VALLEY—He once called for eliminating the U.S. Department of Energy, but after touring federal sites in Oak Ridge and Hardin Valley on Monday, new Energy Secretary Rick Perry pledged to be an advocate for at least some programs.

Perry, a former Texas governor who was confirmed as energy secretary on March 2, was asked about his comments calling for the elimination of three federal departments, including DOE, during the 2012 presidential campaign. His call to eliminate the three departments probably received more attention than it might have otherwise because, in a moment that received a lot of attention, Perry couldn’t recall the name of the Department of Energy during a November 2011 debate. Some believe that moment helped sink his presidential campaign.

Earlier this year, Perry told U.S. senators during his confirmation hearing that he regretted his earlier call to eliminate DOE. After being briefed on many vital functions of DOE, he no longer believed that it should be eliminated, Perry told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, according to The New York Times.

During a stop in Hardin Valley on Monday afternoon, Perry acknowledged he’s learned a lot since the 2012 campaign, including in his visit to Oak Ridge and at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in trips to Idaho National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeast New Mexico.

He suggested he might not be the only one unaware of some of the innovations that have roots in or are developed in places like Oak Ridge, innovations like gene therapy, supercomputing, and 3D printing. The American public may also not be aware of how that “cutting-edge” technology can be used to create jobs and wealth, Perry said.

“Those are things I readily admit I didn’t know five years ago,” Perry said after operating a 3D-printed excavator and test-driving a printed utility vehicle—and learning about other innovations such as supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and composite work at its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday afternoon. “There are a lot of things that have surprised me.” [Read more…]

DOE’s public bus tour began in March, continues through November

Posted at 4:50 pm April 2, 2017
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A U.S. Department of Energy public bus tour in August 2012. (File DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

Visitors see Oak Ridge’s past and present

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2017 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour began March 3 and continues through November 27. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years, a press release said.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area, the release said. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 40,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the Oak Ridge Reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions underway in Oak Ridge.

The bus tour itinerary includes: [Read more…]

Mason leaving ORNL for Battelle

Posted at 10:58 am February 24, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason is pictured above on Monday, May 23, 2016, in Chattanooga. (File photo by ORNL)

Note: This story was last updated at 3:05 p.m.

Thom Mason, the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2007, is leaving the lab for a job at Battelle.

Mason announced the move in an email to employees on Friday morning.

He will become senior vice president for laboratory operations at Battelle in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle, in partnership with the University of Tennessee, has managed and operated ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy since April 2000.

“I’m privileged to take on the challenges that lie ahead,” Mason said. [Read more…]

ORNL: Crystallization method offers new option for carbon capture from air

Posted at 12:22 pm January 9, 2017
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carbon_dioxide_direct_air_capture2-custelcean

Using X-ray diffraction, ORNL’s Radu Custelcean analyzed the molecular structure of the simple guanidine compound and was surprised to find carbonate, a crystal that forms when carbon dioxide from air reacts with water. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

By Sara Shoemaker, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a simple, reliable process to capture carbon dioxide directly from ambient air, offering a new option for carbon capture and storage strategies to combat global warming.

Ambient air is air that completely surrounds.

Initially, the ORNL team was studying methods to remove environmental contaminants such as sulfate, chromate, or phosphate from water. To remove those negatively charged ions, the researchers synthesized a simple compound known as guanidine designed to bind strongly to the contaminants and form insoluble crystals that are easily separated from water.

In the process, they discovered a method to capture and release carbon dioxide that requires minimal energy and chemical input. Their results are published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. [Read more…]