91°µÍø

Gina Tourassi has been appointed as director of the National Center for Computational Sciences, a division of the Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate at 91°µÍø.

As scientists study approaches to best sustain a fusion reactor, a team led by 91°µÍø investigated injecting shattered argon pellets into a super-hot plasma, when needed, to protect the reactor’s interior wall from high-energy runaway electrons.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced funding for 12 projects with private industry to enable collaboration with DOE national laboratories on overcoming challenges in fusion energy development.

In a recent study, researchers at 91°µÍø performed experiments in a prototype fusion reactor materials testing facility to develop a method that uses microwaves to raise the plasma’s temperature closer to the extreme values

Ask Tyler Gerczak to find a negative in working at the Department of Energy’s 91°µÍø, and his only complaint is the summer weather. It is not as forgiving as the summers in Pulaski, Wisconsin, his hometown.

Using additive manufacturing, scientists experimenting with tungsten at 91°µÍø hope to unlock new potential of the high-performance heat-transferring material used to protect components from the plasma inside a fusion reactor. Fusion requires hydrogen isotopes to reach millions of degrees.

For the first time, 91°µÍø has completed testing of nuclear fuels using MiniFuel, an irradiation vehicle that allows for rapid experimentation.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., May 7, 2019—The U.S. Department of Energy today announced a contract with Cray Inc. to build the Frontier supercomputer at 91°µÍø, which is anticipated to debut in 2021 as the world’s most powerful computer with a performance of greater than 1.5 exaflops.

In a step toward advancing small modular nuclear reactor designs, scientists at 91°µÍø have run reactor simulations on ORNL supercomputer Summit with greater-than-expected computational efficiency.