A look at the core of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor. (ORNL photo)
State of Tennessee institutions received almost $3 million in funds out of the $82 million the Department of Energy awarded today for development of advanced nuclear technologies. Continue reading
Sen. Lamar Alexander’s office this afternoon released a statement on the proposal to name a new element — Element 117 on the periodic chart — as “Tennessine” to recognize the contributions to the discovery by scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University.
Here’s an excerpt from Alexander’s comments: Continue reading
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason last week received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Tennessee. (UT photo)
The Department of Energy today announced more than $5 million in awards to undergrads and graduate students who are pursuing nuclear engineering degrees and degrees in other programs related to jobs in the nuclear industry, and the University of Tennessee garnered a big share of the educational assistance. Continue reading
Teresa Robbins, deputy manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office, was among the speakers at Tuesday’s “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” program at Y-12’s New Hope Center. (KNS/Munger photo)
Teresa Robbins is a top executive in the National Nuclear Security Administration, overseeing work at two nuclear weapons plants, and she said the foundation for her successful career was a decision to pursue a degree in engineering.
Engineering made everything possible, she said.
“I came from a family that had never gone to college, and I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Robbins said Tuesday at an “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” program at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Continue reading
The National Nuclear Security Administration this week announced a grant award of $25 million to a consortium led by the University of California at Berkeley to pursue research and development in nuclear science and security.
Other members of the consortium includes the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Michigan State University; the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Irvine; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; George Washington University; and Texas A&M University. Continue reading
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last week announced $125 million in grants for “transformational energy technology projects,” including two projects to be headed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The projects are funded through DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
The ORNL projects include work on new cast alumina-forming alloys and design of 2-D proton-selective membrances for use in storage technologies. Continue reading
A chemical sensor developed by researchers at the University of Tennessee and the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant is inexpensive, small and reportedly portable, and it was honored this week as one of the year’s top technological innovations. Continue reading
John Kotek, the Department of Energy’s acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy, was at Thursday’s workshop on Molten Salt Reactor Technologies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“I think the spirit of Alvin Weinberg is here,” Alan Icenhour, an associate lab director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said Thursday morning.
No, Icenhour wasn’t holding a seance, hoping to connect with the late Dr. Weinberg — a nuclear pioneer, science ambassador and longtime director of ORNL. He was speaking at the opening session of a workshop celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, of which Weinberg was its champion. Continue reading
The featured speaker at the Oct. 13 lunch meeting of Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory will be Bruce MacLennan, associate professor at the University of Tennessee’s Electrical and Computer Science Department. His topic will be: “Can a Robot Have a Mind?”
Here’s an abstract from MacLennan: “Suppose we could make a robot with the intelligence of a human. Would it be conscious? Feel emotions? Have free will? How could you tell? In this talk I will explore these questions and discuss how they could be answered scientifically. In particular, I will address the problem of machine consciousness, which is an instance of what philosophers call the Hard Problem of consciousness: the task of explaining the relation between conscious experience and the physical processes associated with it. In addition to its relevance to artificial intelligence, this question provides a sharp test-case for our theories of the human mind, and investigating it will foster a deeper understanding of our own humanity.” Continue reading
A 3D-printed building is displayed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the AMIE (Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy) demonstration. A vehicle, also built using a 3D printer at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, is part of the integrated system that can share energy with the building. The demonstration took place as part of the first-ever Industry Day sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (KNS photo/Adam Lau)
The future was parked on Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s front lawn Wednesday, and it created quite a stir.
A nine-month research project, demonstrating a wealth of energy-efficient technologies and a creative approach to energy planning, was on display for the opening session of Industry Day at ORNL.
The prototype known as AMIE (Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy) links a building and a vehicle — both constructed of polymer materials using large-scale 3D printers — that share energy sources via lab-developed wireless connections and make powerful things possible.
“This whole exercise is a ‘what if’ about the future,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said. “What if the investment we make in our car is also going to be part of the power source for our house, instead of sitting idle 95 percent of the time? Continue reading
The American Nuclear Society recently chose the University of Tennessee’s student chapter as the nation’s best, awarding the UT group the Samuel Glasstone Award. Steve Skutnik, assistant professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department, said in a statement, “I think this shows that we are becoming a recognized leader for what we do.”
The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences, a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received a $3 million award from the National Science Foundation to support operations of two computer systems — Darter and Beacon — through July 2016. More information is available at UT Today.