Feature Articles

For more than 60 years, the High Flux Isotope Reactor has produced neutron beams for the benefit of society, creating real-world impacts that span energy security, quantum computing, healthcare, national defense and advanced materials. 

Veterans of the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program are bringing their expertise to the Department of Energy’s High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, applying the same precision and discipline that powers the Navy’s fleets to America’s science, energy and security missions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have developed the first X-ray imaging system that clearly reveals the interior of suspicious objects or infrastructure underwater. 

With powerful new colliders crashing particles at ever-increasing energies, even more daughter particles are produced. The innovative Celeritas project, led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, provides a software tool that makes sure simulations used to analyze particles can run on the fastest supercomputers, accelerating answers about the nature of the universe.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor operates under strict safety standards with skilled teams who ensure safe fuel cycles and isotope production as well as important discoveries in materials science, national security and medicine, maintaining the U.S.'s competitive edge. Planned upgrades will extend HFIR's operational life and capabilities, supporting ongoing scientific innovation and national security needs.

Argonne National Laboratory researchers have been nominated for the Gordon Bell Prize in supercomputing for conducting the largest-ever simulation of the universe using the Frontier supercomputer. The achievement sets a new benchmark for simulating the universe, enabling scientists to study atomic matter and dark matter simultaneously. The simulations tracked 4 trillion particles, represented across 15 billion light-years of space — delivering a 15-fold leap in capability over the previous state-of-the-art simulations.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new simulation platform for understanding and predicting the behavior of this modern grid. Using a combination of mathematical tools, automation and analysis, the approach provides highly accurate results with less computing time at a lower cost, increasing the reliability of electricity.

Over the next decade, aluminum auto body scrap will flood salvage systems, much of it too impure for reuse in critical parts. ORNL researchers developed RidgeAlloy, a new aluminum alloy that turns low-value scrap into a reliable, high-value domestic supply for structural automotive manufacturing.

Researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have created an innovative method to visualize and analyze atomic structures within specially designed, ultrathin bilayer 2D materials. When precisely aligned at an angle, these materials exhibit unique properties that could lead to advancements in quantum computing, superconductors and ultraefficient electronics.

The Global Burst Detection system, developed by Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, carries a suite of sensors and instruments capable of identifying signals from nuclear detonations and providing real-time information to the U.S. military and government. The final system in the current block of eight systems launched into space in May 2025. Meanwhile, the next series, scheduled for initial deployment in 2027, already has several units completed and ready to be integrated with host satellites.