ORNL Fact Sheets

ORNL Fact Sheets

These downloadable fact sheets feature Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s key research and development areas, scientific accomplishments, and societal impacts, as well as the information you need to reach out to this premier research institution.

Research and Development

  • Laboratory Overview - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) provides exceptional researchers with distinctive equipment and unique facilities to solve some of the nation's most compelling challenges.  
  • Advanced Manufacturing - A thriving manufacturing sector is vital to the nation's economic health and global security, yet few companies possess the R&D capacity that's essential to staying competitive.
  • Artificial Intelligence - Oak Ridge National Laboratory uniquely has the expertise and facilities to advance the state of the art in AI and to apply AI to DOE’s most pressing scientific challenges.
  • Bioderived Materials - The aim of ORNL’s bioderived materials research is to develop methods and technologies that enable greater and higher value use of biomass to sustainably produce a wide range of high-performance products.
  • Biological and Environmental Systems Science - The Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate leads convergence research in biology, ecology, engineering, data discovery, physical sciences, and computing to advance US competitiveness in the global bioeconomy and Earth system sustainability. 
  • Biosciences - ORNL’s biosciences R&D is focused on advancing science and technology to better understand complex biological systems and their relationship with the environment.
  • Building Technologies Research and Integration Center - BTRIC is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility dedicated to performing early-stage research and development in building technologies.
  • Carbon Fiber Technology Facility - CFTF is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility for carbon fiber innovation. 
  • Center for Nanophase Material Sciences - In the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, researchers make big discoveries about small materials.
  • Electrification and Energy Infrastructures - EESRD focuses on developing innovative capabilities for electric energy devices and systems. 
  • Environmental Sciences - Researchers advance understanding of the natural world from the molecular to the global scale in Earth system science.
  • Energy Science and Technology - plays a pivotal role in America’s transition to a clean, efficient, flexible, and secure energy future. 
  • Energy Storage – ORNL is working with industry to develop energy storage solutions that boost energy efficiency, increase energy security, and create economic opportunity.
  • Fossil Energy - ORNL has a rich history of scientific research supporting the nation’s exploration, production, and use of abundant, domestic fossil energy.
  • Fusion Energy - ORNL has established an integrated approach to investigate the obstacles to fusion energy that must be addressed in order to bring fusion power to the grid.
  • Grid Security - Americans' quality of life, economic vitality, health, safety, and security all depend on the uninterrupted delivery of electricity to our homes, businesses, and public spaces.
  • High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) - The High Flux Isotope Reactor is the most powerful reactor-based source of neutrons in the United States.
  • Hydropower - ORNL hydropower R&D is focused on lowering the costs of hydropower, enhancing hydropower’s contributions to the power grid, and improving environmental impacts and regulatory process of hydropower.
  • Isotopes through Nuclear Science and Technology – ORNL is a world leader in the research, development, and production of isotopes for industrial, national security, medical purposes as well as for basic science research.   
  • Manufacturing Demonstration Facility - MDF is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility focused on performing early-stage research and development to improve the energy and material efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness of American manufacturers.
  • Neutron Science - Breakthroughs in medicine, energy, technology, and industry follow advances in the understanding of materials. ORNL is at the US epicenter for one of the most powerful techniques for exploring the nature of materials— neutron scattering.
  • Neutron Science: Proton Power Upgrade - The Spallation Neutron Source is doubling its proton beam power to enable new types of scientific discoveries vital to our nation’s security and economy.
  • Neutron Source: Second Target Station - The STS will enable breakthroughs in many areas of materials research and development and will be uniquely suited to explore complex materials. 
  • Nuclear Reactors - ORNL pioneered nuclear energy and is well positioned to usher in the next era of nuclear innovation.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility - Researchers from around the world use the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility to solve problems so challenging they require the world's most powerful computers. OLCF's high-performance computing systems.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility: Frontier - The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at ORNL will be home to one of America’s first exascale systems: Frontier.
  • Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility: Summit - ORNL houses Summit, the next leap in leadership-class computing systems for open science.
  • Physical Sciences - Spanning the research spectrum from fundamental research to technology readiness and beyond through materials, chemistry, nuclear physics, and isotopes research and development.
  • Quantum Information Science - Advances in computing, sensing, and networking technologies have defined the last half-century of technological progress. Now an enhanced understanding of the laws of quantum mechanics is enabling a quantum revolution.
  • National Transportation Research Center - NTRC is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility focused on performing early-stage research and development in transportation technologies..

Partnerships and Collaborative Initiatives

  • Center for Bioenergy Innovation - The Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL is custom engineering feedstock plants and microbes for a sustainable bioeconomy.
  • Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors - Our vision is to improve the operation and safety of the existing nuclear fleet to ensure efficient commercial nuclear power generation into the future.
  • Exascale Computing Project - High-performance computing (HPC) systems have become critical tools for research in diverse scientific fields and leadership in areas such as national security, manufacturing, and healthcare.
  • Industry Partnerships - ORNL actively seeks and develops industry and technology-transfer partnerships that increase the Lab’s economic impact, accelerate the deployment of ORNL-developed technologies, and strengthen innovation ecosystems regionally and nationally.
  • Innovation Crossroads leverages ORNL’s unique scientific resources and capabilities and connects the nation’s top innovators with experts, mentors, and networks in technology-related fields to take world-changing ideas from research and development to the marketplace.
  • ITER Project for Fusion Energy - Building a sun on earth has the potential to lead to a global paradigm shift for abundant clean energy.
  • K-12 STEM Education and Outreach - ORNL is committed to serving the public as a valued partner in educational initiatives, promoting and expanding STEM experiences for the next generation.
  • MVP-CHAMPION: Partnership for Veterans - The Department of Veterans Affairs is partnering with the ORNL to revolutionize the health care of veterans through advanced data analytics and high-performance computing.

Employment

  • Life at ORNL - ORNL is a thriving multiprogram research campus with world-leading facilities and a talented and diverse workforce of innovators and problem solvers.
  • Postdoctoral Opportunities - ORNL offers dedicated mentors, world-leading scientific resources, and professional development opportunities to well-qualified PhD students.
  • Careers in Biological and Environmental Systems Science – We lead convergence research in biology, ecology, engineering, data discovery, physical sciences, and computing to advance U.S. competitiveness in the global bioeconomy and Earth system sustainability.
  • Careers in Computing and Computational Sciences – We oversee ORNL’s immense store of computing power and its talented staff of computational scientists and mathematicians conducting state-of-the-art research and development in support of DOE’s missions and programs.
  • Careers in Energy Science & Technology – We play a pivotal role in creating a clean, efficient, flexible, and secure energy future with breakthroughs in distribution, storage, and end use.
  • Careers in Fusion and Fission Energy and Science - A multidisciplinary team is printing a microreactor to help industry address high costs and lengthy deployment timelines that threaten the future of nuclear energy—the nation’s largest carbon-free energy source. 
    Careers in Isotope Science and Engineering - We produce unique medical isotopes for life-saving treatments and diagnoses, including actinium-227, a critical material for making a highly effective prostate cancer drug. 
  • Careers in National Security Sciences – The National Security Sciences Directorate leads scientific and technological breakthroughs to confront some of the nation’s most difficult security challenges. We develop applications needed for the security of our nation today and target our vision on how these challenges may manifest themselves in a decade or more.
  • Careers in Neutron Sciences – We seek to answer big science questions about the fundamental nature of materials at the atomic scale, using two of the world’s most powerful neutron sources for breakthroughs in medicine, energy, technology, and industry.
  • Careers in Physical Sciences – We conduct highly integrated basic and applied research to develop new materials, chemical processes, and technologies for energy generation and storage and benign energy use.