Feature Articles

Theoretical and experimental physicists from around the world gathered last month at Quark Matter 2022 to discuss new developments in high energy heavy ion physics. Highlights included a series of presentations and discussions about the latest findings from heavy ion research facilities—notably the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Large Hadron Collider at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN)—as well as future research directions for the field.

To achieve practical energy from fusion, extreme heat from the fusion system “blanket” component must be extracted safely and efficiently. ORNL fusion experts are exploring how tiny 3D-printed obstacles placed inside the narrow pipes of a custom-made cooling system could be a solution for removing heat from the blanket.

The pandemic inspired an interest in how resilient our nation’s production and distribution systems are, against similar large-scale social disruptions as well as climate-related impacts. An INL research team interested in addressing these challenges identified food and agriculture as one sector to better understand. From there, they searched for an appropriate commodity to serve as their first official case study. For an Idaho-based team, the three most obvious options were milk, wheat and potatoes.

A new control system shows promise in making millions of homes contributors to improved power grid operations, reaping cost and environmental benefits.

For the first time, a team of Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and University of Idaho researchers has successfully applied machine learning to characterizing the microstructure of metallic nuclear fuel, the fine details only visible under powerful magnification.

INL researchers are addressing electric vehicle battery safety concerns with the recently deployed Battery Advanced DiaGnostics Evaluation (BADGE) platform.

Researchers at the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research have invented a wide and diverse range of technologies in the “beyond lithium-ion” space, including 30-plus patents now available for licensing.