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ORNL Review v17n4

Vol. 17, No. 4, ( 1984)

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ORNL Review v17n3

Vol. 17, No. 3, ( 1984)
  • New Agents To Detect Heart Disease. ORNL's Nuclear Medicine Group has designed and developed radioactive agents for safely and more clearly evaluating heart disease and the effectiveness of therapy. These agents include iodine-123-labeled methyl-branched fatty acids. The group has also developed an improved iridium-191m generator to diagnose heart problems in children. The methyl-branched fatty acids will be tested this year in human patients in Boston and Vienna, and the generator has just entered clinical trials in Europe.
  • The Advanced Toroidal Facility: Improving Fusion's Chances . Because further improvements in doughnut-shaped, or toroidal, fusion devices are desirable, ORNL has designed an Advanced Toroidol Facility (ATF). An optimized version of a stellarator (which differs from a tokamak in that it lacks a plasma current to magnetically confine the fusion fuel), the ATF will be built in Oak Ridge and is scheduled to begin operation in late 1986.
  • SPECIAL SECTION: Technology for Efficient Power Systems. ORNL is managing the Department of Energy program for developing and testing technologies designed to make electric power systems safer, more reliable, and more efficient. ORNL's interdisciplinary staff of experts has taken on a variety of projects, including planning an automated distribution experiment for Athens, Tennessee, and developing a fiber optics measurement device, low-loss steel alloy, and new insulating materials for use in transformers.
  • The Oak Ridge Environment: A Resource To Be Managed. A five-year plan for managing the resources of the Oak Ridge Reservation of the Department of Energy has been developed at ORNL The plan, which is described in the third in a series of articles on ORNL and the environment, deals with both natural and technical resources and provides the means for resolving resource issues such as endangered plant species, contaminated sewage sludge, and the fast-growing deer population.
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ORNL Review v17n2

Vol. 17, No. 2, ( 1984)
  • State of the Laboratory—1983 In the following updated report based on his January 31, 1984, address to staff, Herman Postma discusses technical achievements related to global environmental concerns, an improved alloy for artificial hip joints, human problems of abandoned mine lands, magnets for fusion, the Breeder Reprocessing Engineering Test, altering an enzyme to improve crop yields, radiation effects on matter, diagnosing heart disease in children, measuring indoor air pollution, protecting high-voltage lines, measuring fission product release from reactor fuel, new applications of lasers, and fusion plasma fueling.
  • Making R&D Pay Off: How ORNL Interacts with Industry. Recently the federal government has removed impediments to the transfer of government-sponsored technology to industry. As a result, ORNL has new staff consulting and patent policies and has established a fund to promote technology transfer. Efforts also have been made by the federal government, Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., and ORNL to stimulate and support the creation of small businesses to help the economy.
  • Communicating Health Risks to the Public. The public is worried about low-level effects of environmental agents on health. Its perception of the health risks involved, however, is often different from the actual risks. The scientific establishment, the new media, and culturally ingrained fears and expectations may well be responsible for this discrepancy. That was the consensus of a recent workshop on communicating risks.
  • ORNL and the Environment: Views of State and Federal Regulations. In 1983 the State of Tennessee sought for the first time to acquire the right to regulate ORNL's discharges to the environment. Recently the state conducted a compliance evaluation inspection and recommended that ORNL take action to solve its environmental problems. In this second part of a series, the authors discuss steps that ORNL is taking to respond to the inspection report and the legal issues pertaining to environmental management at the Laboratory.
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ORNL Review v17n1

Vol. 17, No. 1, ( 1984)
  • How Does ORNL Affect the Environment? ORNL's day-to-day operations for the most part have a beneficial effect on the human environment, although the impacts of its primary product—new scientific and technological information—are speculative. Slightly adverse impacts arise from releases of toxic materials from research activities; however, none of these releases is a threat to human health.
  • Building a Better Ion Trap: Atomic Physicists Study Recoil Ions. A new technique developed at ORNL under the leadership of two university professors traps ions of very low energies. This "recoil ion storage" technique permits studies of the transfer of electrons from atoms during collisions with multicharged, low-energy ions and opens the way to future precision spectroscopy experiments on ions.
  • The Mathematics of Artificial Intelligence. Mathematicians at ORNL are applying the principles of artificial intelligence to energy-related problems. Their goals include designing an economical, energy-efficient solar house and programming a robot to avoid obstacles so that it can operate in a hazardous environment, such as a nuclear reprocessing plant.
  • Predicting Metal-Ion Toxicity: A Collaboration of ORNL Physicists and Biologists. ORNL physicists and biologists are collaborating in a search for fundamental explanations of the toxic effects of metal ions in biological systems. Their goal is to predict the degree of toxicity of metal ions and other chemical pollutants
  • Sol-Gel and Gel-Sphere Technology: Powders for Power. Sol-gel technology, developed over a 25-year period at ORNL, has been used to make spherical, beadlike particles for nuclear reactor fuels. Today industry is showing interest in the technology for making ceramics of uniform composition for electronic and other nonnuclear applications. A researcher involved in the development of the prizewinning technology tells its history.
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