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Fabricating fuels

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Over the past decade, increased public pressure to provide more electricity, reduce air pollution, and slow the rate of global warming has led many Americans to revisit the potential of nuclear power to meet anticipated demands for more energy. The Department of Energy and others in the scientific community are interested in adapting the gas-cooled reactor for use both in producing hydrogen for fuel cells to power cars and buildings and in supplying electricity competitively.

A revolutionary reactor concept

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A revolutionary nuclear reactor concept, based partly on ORNL's past coolant and fuel research, could be an economical source of hydrogen. Called the Advanced High-Temperature Reactor(AHTR), it would cost only half as much as current gas-cooled reactor concepts.

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2004

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Story ideas from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the month of April include high-tech protective gear for first responders, self-organizing polymers, fuel for the future and belt-free automobiles.

Getting credit

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

When nuclear fuel is irradiated, or "burned," in a reactor, its reactivity drops as the uranium fuel is consumed and fission products accumulate. The less reactive the burned, or spent, fuel removed from the reactor, the less likely that the fuel can go critical, or sustain a chain reaction.

Coming full circle

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The resurrection of gas centrifuge technology for uranium enrichment--a dream come true for many Oak Ridge researchers--has brought the largest CRADA ever to ORNL.

Recovering fuel from waste

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The nation's permanent nuclear waste repository could be used more efficiently than currently planned, according to ORNL's Emory Collins. He and his colleagues believe it makes sense for the repository to take mainly nuclear fission products, or 5% of the wastes, and turn away the bulk of the waste--spent nuclear fuel. The usable uranium and plutonium in this material could be extracted, chemically treated, and recycled as mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for nuclear reactors.

Brown earns prestigious geography award

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Marilyn Brown, director of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has earned the 2004 James R. Anderson Medal of Applied Geography.

Shooting for the moons

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Exploring planets beyond Mars will require a power source different from those now deployed in American spacecraft. Radioisotope thermal generators and solar energy cannot meet the challenges posed by proposed missions to the cold, dark regions of our solar system. ORNL engineers are convinced nuclear fission power will.

Can the next generation take the heat?

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has long been a world leader in materials research, and now with the resurgence of interest in nuclear energy, ORNL has a leading role in developing and selecting materials for the next generation of nuclear power plants.

Staying In the comfort zone

DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Randy Nanstad examines the setup for a fracture toughness test of a stainless steel cladding specimen from the Davis-Besse reactor pressure vessel head.