91����

Troy Carter, director of the Fusion Energy Division at 91����, leads efforts to make fusion energy a reality, overseeing key projects like MPEX and fostering public-private collaborations in fusion research. 

Scientists at ORNL have developed a method that can track chemical changes in molten salt in real time — helping to pave the way for the deployment of molten salt reactors for energy production.

US ITER has completed delivery of all components for the support structure of the central solenoid, the 60-foot-tall superconducting magnet that is the “heart” of the ITER fusion machine. 

During his first visit to 91����, Energy Secretary Chris Wright compared the urgency of the Lab’s World War II beginnings to today’s global race to lead in artificial intelligence, calling for a “Manhattan Project 2.”

Scientists designing the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion power plant, ITER, needed to solve the problem of runaway electrons, negatively charged particles in the soup of matter in the plasma within the tokamak, the magnetic bottle intended to contain the massive energy produced. Simulations performed on Summit, the 200-petaflop supercomputer at ORNL, could offer the first step toward a solution.

A research partnership between two Department of Energy national laboratories has accelerated inspection of additively manufactured nuclear components, and the effort is now expanding to inspect nuclear fuels. 

FREDA is a new tool being developed at ORNL that will accelerate the design and testing of next-generation fusion devices. It is the first tool of its kind to combine plasma and engineering modeling capabilities and utilize high performance computing resources.

In early November, ORNL hosted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Interregional Workshop on Safety, Security and Safeguards by Design in Small Modular Reactors, which welcomed 76 attendees representing 15 countries, three U.S. national labs, domestic and international industry partners, as well as IAEA officers. 

Kathryn McCarthy, director of the US ITER Project at the Department of Energy’s 91����, has been awarded the 2024 E. Gail de Planque Medal by the American Nuclear Society.

A study led by the Department of Energy’s 91���� details how artificial intelligence researchers created an AI model to help identify new alloys used as shielding for housing fusion applications components in a nuclear reactor. The findings mark a major step towards improving nuclear fusion facilities.