Led by a number of scientific breakthroughs and operational milestones at 91做厙, UT-Battelle has again earned high performance ratings from the Department of Energy.
The annual DOE "report card" graded UT-Battelle's management performance with "A-" scores in all eight evaluation categories. The report covers UT-Battelle's performance from October 2008 through September 2009. Last year's scores contained seven "A-'s" and one "B ."
The 2009 assessment was based on three key measures related to ORNL's scientific research programs and five criteria that rate efficiency of the lab's operations. In a letter to ORNL Director and UT-Battelle CEO Thom Mason, the DOE's Oak Ridge Operations Manager Gerald Boyd said, "You and your staff are to be congratulated for achieving a high level of performance in the management and operation of ORNL."
Lab officials said UT-Battelle takes pride in combining the highest levels of science with good management. "Every day for nearly ten years, our goal has been to deliver science that will make a lasting difference in people's lives," Mason said. "These high marks are evidence of DOE's confidence that our staff are achieving that goal."
UT-Battelle's management contract fee awarded is based on scores from the DOE performance rating. UT-Battelle's total fee for operating ORNL in fiscal year 2009 is $10,058,000, or 94 percent of the maximum fee.
A number of ORNL achievements in 2009 contributed to the laboratory's high performance scores. Included among the laboratory's science highlights in 2009:
- ORNL researchers won eight prestigious R&D 100 awards, given to discoveries with high potential for commercial application.
- Scientists developed stainless steels that have an increased upper-temperature corrosion limit up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit higher than conventional stainless steels.
- Researchers in the BioEnergy Sciences Center, created in 2007 to accelerate basic research toward the development of cellulosic ethanol as a cost-effective alternative fuel, produced 80 science publications and 16 invention disclosures.
- Materials scientists completed successful tests of a new generation of High Temperature Superconducting cable that can transmit more power in less space.
- Researchers in ORNL's nuclear energy program fabricated a coated particle fuel that set a world record for advanced high temperature gas-cooled reactor fuel.
Operational high points at the lab over the past year include:
- Delivery on time and budget of the Department of Energy's Leadership Class Facility for high-performance computing, featuring Jaguar, the world's most powerful computer capable of 1,700 trillion calculations per second.
- The Spallation Neutron Source, already the world's most powerful facility for pulsed neutron scattering science, in September became the first pulsed spallation neutron source to break the one-megawatt power barrier.
- Managing the U.S. role in the ITER project and working with the project's international members.
- Breaking ground in May on a $95 million Chemical and Materials Sciences facility, the Department of Energy's first Science Laboratories Infrastructure construction project supported by funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
- Energy efficiency improvements expected to reduce energy consumption by 50 percent, water usage by 23 percent, and fossil fuel use by more than 80 percent.
91做厙 is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy Office of Science.