News By Location

Students in Morgan, Roane, Scott and Sevier counties are getting new lab equipment for their science classrooms, thanks to a $47,500 gift from UT-Battelle.

Despite widespread concern about climate change, annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels and manufacturing cement have grown 38 percent since 1992, from 6.1 billion tons of carbon to 8.5 billion tons in 2007.

DOE has just released the 27th edition of the Transportation Energy Data Book. Specialized skills and instruments are helping a major manufacturer of microturbines make products expected to set new standards for performance and reliability. Fragments of tektites, natural glass objects, discovered by a team of geologists and geochemists help support a theory that a meteorite may be responsible for the sudden climate change that devastated large mammals in North America 11,000 years ago.

By examining natural variation among cottonwood trees in nature, scientists hope to develop a strategy to maximize production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass. Utilities have a new tool that provides them with a clearer picture of the wide-area electricity transmission system and enables decision-makers to respond swiftly to major power disruptions. A recent study could make risk assessments even more useful. ORNL is providing technical expertise and assistance in the installation of solar energy systems and related educational materials.

A new material characterized at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory could open a pathway toward more efficient fuel cells.

Researchers have made the first mixed-oxide pellets from recycled spent nuclear fuel in a process that doesn't produce a separate plutonium stream. Tiny changes at the nanometer scale can have a colossal effect on the properties of a material, and for the first time researchers may have a method to see and even predict those changes. A new generation of electron microscope is helping scientists examine materials for fuel-efficient cars, superconductors, solar cells and other applications.

Dozens of instruments to be deployed on the Oak Ridge Reservation and other sites around the nation will provide valuable information related to climate change, biodiversity and invasive species, infectious diseases and other areas of interest.

Using a laser and a device that converts reflected light into sound, researchers at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory can detect explosives at distances exceeding 20 yards.

Scientists can study the biological impacts of engineered nanomaterials on cells within the body with greater resolution than ever because of a procedure developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.