Feature Articles

A Sandia National Laboratories engineer helped lead efforts to develop and publish a standard for human readiness during technology development. 

The first thing people notice about Tanner Mauseth is his height. At 6 feet, 8 inches, he played Division I football for the University of Idaho while he majored in applied physics.

Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely for more than eight decades. It’s most often associated with its role in nuclear security, but it’s also vital to nuclear power, where it is produced in reactors and can be recycled as fuel. Despite plutonium’s importance, some of its most fundamental behaviors remain a mystery.

ORNL has named Brian Anderson director of the Office of Institutional Strategic Planning, where he will help shape the laboratory’s long-term research strategy and priorities. Anderson most recently led ORNL’s Enrichment Science and Engineering Division, advancing key nuclear science and national security initiatives.

A new concept flight test vehicle called Aires Tide will be on display at the National Mall starting June 25. The 11-foot-tall, 3D-printed, AI-designed prototype will be stationed alongside other American innovations at the Great American State Fair, part of the Freedom 250 celebration.

Undergraduate seniors at Tennessee Tech University work with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory through the Capstone course, a two-semester program that pairs students with industry clients to tackle real-world technical challenges.

Scientific computing experts at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have selected the first nine research projects that will run on Discovery, the nation’s next flagship supercomputer, slated for deployment in 2028. The projects will be developed through the Discovery Center for Accelerated Application Readiness program at ORNL’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. The program is designed to ensure that a suite of leading-edge scientific applications is optimized and ready to deliver results as soon as Discovery becomes operational.

- ORNL researchers have developed advanced tools to immediately detect abnormal power grid conditions that lead to wildfires, equipment damage and blackouts. 

- The approach incorporates artificial intelligence to rapidly analyze grid data and automatically alert a utility to dangerous grid behaviors requiring immediate response. 

- ORNL is partnering with utility Southern California Edison (SCE) to validate the technology against five years of field-collected data.

ORNL tested two aluminum alloys — cast ACMZ (AlCuMnZr) and printed DuAlumin3D — in a prototype GM engine. The materials enabled a more-than-10-percent improvement in fuel efficiency and a 15-percent reduction in weight without sacrificing strength or durability. 

Instead of letting old lithium-ion batteries pile up as waste, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a microwave-based process to recover and remake their cathodes, potentially turning spent batteries into a new domestic source of critical materials.