ORNL News – East Tennessee Economic Council

DOE Releases Final Environmental Impact Statement for Versatile Test Reactor

DOE today released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the construction of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). The proposed VTR will be a sodium-cooled fast-neutron-spectrum test reactor that will enhance and accelerate research, development, and demonstration of innovative nuclear technologies that will play a crucial role in helping the United States reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

May 13, 2022

SkyNano, Knoxville Startup Named Finalist for Elon Musk’s $100M Tech Prize

Knoxville startup SkyNano has been named a finalist for Tesla founder Elon Musk’s $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal prize. SkyNano will find out Friday if it is one of 15 winners to take home a $1 million prize in the Milestone Award category, which recognizes the most promising concepts to pull carbon pollution out of Earth’s atmosphere.

April 20, 2022

ORNL Brings Big Science to Address the Climate Challenge

Tackling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future are among the biggest challenges of our time. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest Department of Energy science and energy laboratory in the country, is deeply invested in the big science capabilities and expertise needed to address the climate challenge on multiple fronts.

April 19, 2022

BWXT advancing microreactor design project

US-based BWX Technologies is proceeding apace to deliver microreactors to commercial power and industrial customers in cooperation with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

April 19, 2022

ORNL & KCDC: High-Tech Energy Retrofits Coming to Western Heights Neighborhood Renovation project

The U.S. Department of Energy, saying we’re in an “all-out sprint to beat the climate crisis,” will spend $5 million in Knoxville on a project it hopes will become a model for the rest of the country.

April 12, 2022

ORNL Turns Pollution into Fuel, Plastics, and High-End Clothes

What if you could capture pollution off a smokestack and turn it into a polyester dress, jet fuel or high-end running shoes? That’s something that Oak Ridge National Lab scientists have been working on and it’s already hitting stores. ORNL and LanzaTech, a biotechnology company, have created a synthetic bacterium that eats industrial pollution and secretes useful chemicals as waste.

April 6, 2022

ORNL Awards $100M in Contracts to Local Small and Minority-Owned Businesses

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, is pleased to announce the award of four basic ordering agreements to local small businesses valued at up to $100 million. These four small businesses were selected through a rigorous, competitive procurement process. Other small businesses can also partner with these firms, which will further increase ORNL’s small business utilization. The business named are: IT Lab Partners, LLC; Akima Infrastructure Services; GEM Technology International Corp.; and, STRATA-G, LLC.

April 6, 2022

ORNL Develops Clean Water Bots

Measuring water quality throughout river networks with precision, speed and at lower cost than traditional methods is now possible with AquaBOT, an aquatic drone developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The maneuverable AquaBOT measures water quality indicators such as nitrate, temperature and dissolved oxygen along the entire length of mid-sized streams where water quality can be variable.

April 6, 2022

ORNL Collaborates to Demonstrate Self-Sanitizing N95 Masks

ORNL researchers collaborated with Iowa State University and RJ Lee Group to demonstrate a safe and effective antiviral coating for N95 masks. The coating destroys the COVID-19-causing coronavirus and could enable reuse of masks made from various fabrics.

April 6, 2022

CBI early career program develops next generation of bioenergy leaders

The Center for Bioenergy Innovation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory offers a unique opportunity for early career scientists to conduct groundbreaking research while learning what it takes to manage a large collaborative science center. Eight talented scientists from CBI’s partnering institutions have participated in the Early Career Development program, benefitting their career, their science and the center.

April 5, 2022