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Features
In This Issue - Volume 36, Number 1, 2003
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60
Years of Great Science: A Message From the Director
Among the most cherished artifacts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is
a small unassuming logbook with pages yellowed by time. The book was used
by a group of researchers doing classified work in 1943. More...
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Nuclear
Power and Research Reactors
From Manhattan Project To Electricity
Production
More
than 430 nuclear power reactors are operating in the world, and 103 nuclear
power plants produce 20% of the electricity
used in the United States. More... |
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Reactor
Chemistry
Discovery of Promethium
In 1914,
one year before he was killed in action during World War I, Henry Moseley,
a brilliant 26-year-old British physicist whose work influenced the
final order of elements in the Periodic Table, demonstrated that element
61 should exist between the rare earths neodymium and samarium. More...
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Nuclear
Isotopes
From Swords to Plowshares
During World War II, calutrons at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant were used to separate
electromagnetically two uranium isotopes to produce bomb-grade material for the
Manhattan Project. More... |
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Nuclear
Medicine
Diagnosing and Treating Disease
Transforming ORNL-produced radioisotopes into agents that can help restore human
health has long been the goal of nuclear medicine researchers at ORNL. More... |
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Fuel Reprocessing
Developing New Processes
During World War II, Oak Ridge's Graphite Reactor was operated as a pilot plant
to demonstrate plutonium production. More... |
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Nuclear Fuel Software
International Software
SCALE is an easy-to-use computer software system for determining whether designs
of nuclear facilities and transportation or storage packages meet nuclear safety
standards. More... |
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Nuclear Fuel Designs
New Designs for Nuclear Industry
In the late 1940s an ORNL team led by Eugene Wigner designed water-cooled fuel
elements to ensure that the Materials Testing Reactor would produce a high enough
concentration of neutrons to determine which materials would hold up best for
future reactors. More... |
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Nuclear
Safety
Understanding the Challenge
ORNL has influenced nuclear safety in numerous ways. More... |
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Nuclear
Desalination
Thirsting for Solutions
The United Nations estimates
that the number of people without access to safe drinking water is
1.1 billion, or nearly one in six persons worldwide. More...
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Nuclear NONPROLIFERATION
Reducing the Nuclear Threat
After the Soviet Union was
dissolved, its nations had nearly 1300 metric tons of weapons-usable
nuclear material under varying degrees of safeguards and security. More...
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NEUTRON
SCATTERING
Instruments of Change
In
1994 Clifford Shull, who pioneered the use of neutron scattering for
materials research at the Oak Ridge Graphite Reactor, shared the Nobel
Prize for physics. More...
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Semiconductors
Shaping the Digital Future
Over
the past four decades ORNL researchers provided key information and
technologies that sparked the growth and improved the economics of
the semiconductor industry. More...
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Superconductors
Experiencing the Power
The power grid of the future
will be more efficient than the present one, thanks to high-temperature
superconducting (HTS) wires and cables. More...
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Ion-Implanted Materials
Real Artificial Joints
The remarkable discovery of
ion channeling by purely theoretical means at ORNL ultimately led to
accelerator-based programs to introduce ions into materials. More...
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Environmental
Impact Analysis
Searching for the Balance
Before federally funded or
approved installations can be constructed, the effects of the projects
must be scrutinized. More...
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Environmental Quality
Planting Scientific Seeds
What are the effects of radioactive
and toxic substances from industrial facilities on the plants and animals
that make up an ecosystem? More...
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Space Exploration
Science
for the Final Frontier
On August 20, 2002, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration celebrated the 25th anniversary
of the Voyager 2 space probe's odyssey through our solar system—perhaps
humanity's greatest feat of space exploration. More...
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Graphite and Carbon Products
From
Missiles to NASCAR
The name Graphite Reactor
acknowledges graphite's desirable properties. More...
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Advanced Materials
Alloys
for Industry
Material synthesis. The
first ORNL-developed alloy to be commercialized was Hastelloy-N, first
sold by International Nickel Company and now marketed by Haynes International.
More...
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Advanced Materials
Tools,
Turbines, and Diesel Engines
Many innovations do not make
it from the lab to the factory for 10 to 15 years, but one ORNL ceramic
became a commercial product three years after it was discovered. More...
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Biotechnology
Cleaning
with Bacteria
An early example of biotechnology
at ORNL was the 1972 demonstration by Chet Francis that garden soil
bacteria in bioreactors could remove nitrates and trace metals from
industrial waste effluents. More...
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Photosynthesis
Finding
the Light
Several ORNL biologists interested
in studying green plant cells and radiation focused on photosynthesis. More...
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Biological Systems
Glimpses
of Life's Fabric
ORNL's
biological research program was established to determine the nature
and effects of radiation on living cells. More...
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Computational Biology
Finding
Genes, Predicting Protein Structure
ORNL's
computational biology researchers played an important role in the Human
Genome Project. More...
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Biomedical Technologies
Detecting
and Preventing Disease
Over the past five decades,
ORNL researchers have devised large instruments, compact analyzers,
and small chips to diagnose or prevent human diseases and disorders.
More...
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Intelligent Machines
Reducing
Risk with Robots
Mechanical manipulators have
long been employed in hot cells to protect users from radioactive materials.
More...
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Health Physics and
Radiation Dosimetry
Helping
Set Guidelines for Radiation Protection
In December 1942 when the
first controlled chain reaction was achieved in Chicago, some physicists
measured radiation levels in the workplace. More...
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Radiation Shielding
Putting
Safety First
In the 1930s Eugene Wigner
devised a formula indicating that some materials are more effective
than others in absorbing, or slowing down, neutron radiation. More...
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Information Centers
Sharing
Scientific Data
Forty years ago, then ORNL
Director Alvin Weinberg headed a presidential panel to study the problem
of handling rapidly growing amounts of data. More...
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Energy Efficiency
Cooling More With
Less
In the past three decades, ORNL has spearheaded the development of refrigeration
systems that use less energy and pose less of a threat to the environment. More... |
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Energy Efficiency
Heating More With
Less
The earth stores almost half
the energy it receives from the sunat least 500 times more energy than
humankind needs each year. More... |
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Energy Efficiency
Building
for the Future
After the Arab oil embargo
of 1974 when gas stations had long lines and energy prices climbed,
ORNL was asked to serve as the federal government's program manager
for energy conservation research. More...
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Chemistry and Mass
Spectrometry
Making
a Mark
Oak
Ridge chemists pioneered methods of separating plutonium and other
fission products from the spent uranium fuel at the Graphite Reactor,
achieving the Laboratory's mission in the effort to end World War II. More...
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Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics
From
Atoms to Exploding Stars
Nuclear physics research at
ORNL took off in the late 1940s, largely because of the nuclear aircraft
project's need for information about the behavior and effects of reactor-borne
neutrons on shielding materials. More...
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High-Performance
Computing
Pushing
the Limits
For 50 years ORNL has been
a leader in advancing supercom-puting. More...
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Software Simulations
Models
for Scientific Discovery
ORNL has had significant influence
worldwide on the software and algorithms used for scientific discovery. More...
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Geographic
Information Systems
Tracking
the Globe
Geographic information science
was pioneered at ORNL in 1969, more than a decade before the commercial
geographic information system (GIS) industry blossomed. More...
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Transportation Logistics
Finding
the Shortest Path
What is the fastest way to
transport troops and needed equipment from American bases to foreign
bases for possible military action? More...
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Biomass Energy
A
New World for Wood
Thanks to a Department of
Energy program managed by ORNL for 20 years, industry has a more efficient
source of pulp fiber and wood for making paper, construction materials,
and furniture. More...
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Fusion Energy
Seeking
the Ultimate Source
Scientists from Russia and
Japan to Europe and the United States have long sought to develop fusion
as an abundant, safe, and environmentally friendly source of electric
power. More...
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Technology Transfer
From
Benchtop to Marketplace
For
more than four decades many of the technologies developed at ORNL have
been transformed into practical goods and services that serve as the
basis for the creation of new companies. More...
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UT-ORNL
Partnership
Growing
a Joint Research Agenda
Beginning
with degree programs in 1943, ORNL has had a special relationship
with the University of Tennessee. More...
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Science Education
Laying
the Foundation
Since
its inception, ORNL has made resources available for educational training
and research opportunities. More...
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Waste
Management
Closing
the Circle
Sixty
years after the Graphite Reactor went critical, ORNL today is helping
to close the nuclear cycle by finding safe ways to isolate nuclear
wastes. More...
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Government
Policies
Aiding
America's Science Agenda
ORNL
research has provided important information to federal science and
technology policy makers, shaping the debate and sometimes the wording
of various laws, regulations, and other policies. More...
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Future ORNL
A Campus for the Next Generation of Great Science
As we celebrate ORNL's 60th anniversary, we are literally rebuilding the
laboratory. More... |
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Special
Feature
ORNL History Time Line (1939-2003)
The discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 gave rise to the Manhattan Project
in the United States, leading to the creation of ORNL. ORNL's accomplishments
in science and technology over the past 60 years are highlighted in this
illustrated time line. More...
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