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Scientists applied a simple approach for growing hBN films on the surface of ubiquitous steels and other metal alloys to “armor” them and thus increase their capabilities. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hexagonal boron nitride coatings on metal alloys enhance durability, reduce friction, and protect against harsh conditions, paving the way for improvements in solar panels, semiconductors, and aerospace components. Researchers demonstrated that stainless steel and other metal alloys coated with hexagonal boron nitride, or hBN, exhibit non-stick or low-friction qualities along with improved long-term protection against harsh corrosion and high-temperature oxidation in air. Metal alloys —...

The U.S. is helping China build a novel, superior nuclear reactor by  Mark Halper February 2, 2015, 2:48 PM EDT Share icons The Department of Energy is dusting off one of the old betamaxes of nuclear technology: The molten salt reactor. But with political will lacking at home, it will rise in China.In 1973, the Nixon administration made a momentous decision that altered the course of civilian nuclear power: It fired the director of the renowned Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scuppering development of a reactor widely regarded as safer and superior to the complicated, inferior behemoths that define the global...

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — A fire that broke out Wednesday at the Y-12 National Security Complex in a building where uranium is processed has been contained, officials said. The fire at the facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was reported shortly after 9 a.m. in production building 9212, said Steven Wyatt, spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration. The building is a uranium processing site, news outlets reported. Air monitors did not go off, which means there was no release of radioactive material, officials said.

A fire at a uranium processing facility in the Y-12 National Security Complex led to the evacuation of hundreds of workers on the morning of Feb. 22, but officials said the fire was quickly contained and no radioactive material was released. The fire at the Y-12 in Oak Ridge, a highly secure facility where experts manufacture parts for America's nuclear weapons and provide enriched uranium to the U.S. Navy, started around 9:15 a.m. in a uranium processing area in building 9212, Y-12 communications manager Taz Painter told Knox News. Hours after the fire, officials said all evacuated workers were accounted...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Officials with Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge said there were no injuries nor any indication of a release of radioactivity after a fire involving uranium occurred early Wednesday. According to a release from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the fire occurred at 9:14 a.m. Steven Wyatt with NNSA said that there was a hood fire in Building 9212, a uranium procession facility. The building and some nearby areas were evacuated. Tony Boser, a technical adviser, said that the fire was in a processing area and it was contained to that...

I got an email from my Senators that explained why they voted for the treaty. They made a deal with Obama. Tax dollars for Tennessee! They met with him told him they would vote for the treaty and for money to update our nuclear weapons facilities and asked that he request those funds in his budget (quote): Implementation includes spending $3.6 billion for a new secured area at Oak Ridge, covering 15 acres instead of the current 150. It means tearing down the last 17 Cold War buildings. The more efficient facility will save taxpayers $200 million each year in...

ISC 2012For the second time in the past two years, a new supercomputer has taken the top ranking in the Top 500 list of supercomputers – and it does not use a hybrid CPU-GPU architecture. But the question everyone will be asking at the International Super Computing conference in Hamburg, Germany today is whether this is the last hurrah for such monolithic parallel machines and whether the move toward hybrid machines where GPUs or other kinds of coprocessors do most of the work is inevitable. LLNL's Sequoia BlueGene/Q super being assembled by IBM (click to enlarge) No one can predict...

A closer look at the Bradykinin hypothesis arlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process — which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations — still took more than a week. When Summit was done, researchers analyzed the results. It was, in the words of Dr. Daniel Jacobson, lead researcher and chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge, a “eureka moment.” The computer...

Oak Ridge’s Summit supercomputer, designed to reclaim the title “world’s fastest,” has officially done so. The designation came Tuesday at the ISC High Performance conference in Frankfurt, Germany, according to a news release from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Eight times more powerful than its predecessor, Titan, the Summit supercomputer reclaims the title from China’s Sunway TaihuLight.

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have discovered a chemical reaction to turn CO2 into ethanol, potentially creating a new technology to help avert climate change. Their findings were published in the journal ChemistrySelect. The researchers were attempting to find a series of chemical reactions that could turn CO2 into a useful fuel, when they realized the first step in their process managed to do it all by itself. The reaction turns CO2 into ethanol, which could in turn be used to power generators and vehicles.

ORNL scientists have created the world’s smallest fidget spinner, which measures just 100 microns wide, almost 130 times smaller than Texas A& M University’s earlier take on the record,...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday that he will fight to keep jobs and boost funding for research facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory. {snip} Perry, who once called for the abolition of the Energy Department, has since become an outspoken proponent of the department's importance, particularly of the cutting-edge research conducted at the national labs. Perry acknowledged he has "not been in the job long enough to go through the budget line item by line item" but said he is "doing my homework every day." Perry was joined on the tour by U.S. Sen....

The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named "tennessine" in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee. "The presence of tennessine on the Periodic Table is an affirmation of our state's standing in the international scientific community, including the facilities ORNL provides to that community as well as the knowledge and expertise of the laboratory's scientists and technicians," ORNL Director Thom Mason said.

With the production of 50 grams of plutonium-238, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have restored a U.S. capability dormant for nearly 30 years and set the course to provide power for NASA and other missions. ... Researchers will analyze the sample for chemical purity and plutonium-238 content, then verify production efficiency models and determine whether adjustments need to be made before scaling up the process. ... There are currently only 35 kilograms, or about 77 pounds, of plutonium-238 set aside for NASA missions, and only about half of this supply meets power specifications. This is...

When Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist, took a fatal overdose of Tylenol in 2008, the government declared that he had been responsible for the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, which killed five people and set off a nationwide panic, and closed the case. Now, a former senior F.B.I. agent who ran the anthrax investigation for four years says that the bureau gathered “a staggering amount of exculpatory evidence” regarding Dr. Ivins that remains secret. The former agent, Richard L. Lambert, who spent 24 years at the F.B.I., says he believes it is possible that Dr. Ivins was the anthrax...

(CNSNews.com) – Following an investigation by its inspector general, the Department of Energy has issued a new rule advising its workers to refrain from putting highly enriched uranium in their pockets.“After interviewing chemical operators and reviewing revised Y-12 procedures, we confirmed that chemical operators are no longer allowed to place samples in their pockets and must check their pockets before removing their coveralls,” said a report issued by the DOE Office of Inspector General.The report, released in September, described a safety violation that occured last year at the DOE’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn."We received allegations that special...

OAK RIDGE — A woman with suspected mental issues was able to drive into the main entrance and all the way through the high-security Y-12 National Security Complex unhindered Thursday morning, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department report obtained by the News Sentinel. The security breach occurred less than a year after three protesters cut through a series of security fences and walked to the innermost sanctum of Y-12, the country’s largest repository of weapons-grade uranium.

No shortage of blame after July break-in OAK RIDGE — For decades, protesters have gathered at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant on the Aug. 6 anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, to call for a halt to production of nuclear weapons at the Oak Ridge plant. A few days before this year's event, they got their wish. At least temporarily. On Aug. 1, the National Nuclear Security Administration and its Y-12 contractor announced that all nuclear operations at the Oak Ridge plant, which enriched the uranium for the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima during...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's only facility for handling, processing and storing weapons-grade uranium was temporarily shut this week after anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, breached security fences, government officials said on Thursday. WSI Oak Ridge, the contractor responsible for protecting the facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is owned by the international security firm G4S, which was at the center of a dispute over security at the London Olympic Games. Officials said that the facility was shut down on Wednesday at least until next week after three activists cut through perimeter fences to reach the outer wall of...

Twenty-eight years after the prophet's death, a secret complex code-named Y-12 was built in Bear Creek, and a secret city sprang up — seemingly almost overnight — in the next valley over in the shadow of Black Oak Ridge. Not shown on any maps at the time, Oak Ridge — first called Clinton Engineering Works after the nearby town of Clinton — was born in 1942 during World War II. It was the key facility in the huge effort called the Manhattan Project to build the world's first atomic bomb.