A gathering of international experts in Portland, Oregon, explored the future of electron microscopy and surfaced potential solutions in areas including new instrument designs, high-speed detectors, and data analytics capabilities.
A multi-institute team develops an imaging method that reveals how uranium dioxide (UO2) reacts with air. This could improve nuclear fuel development and opens a new domain for imaging the group of radioactive elements known as actinides.
Researchers apply numerical simulations to understand more about a sturdy material and how its basic structure responds to and resists radiation. The outcomes could help guide development of the resilient materials of the future.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and PNNL partnered to complete—in record time—an environmental impact statement for the nation’s first small modular nuclear reactor, to be sited at Clinch River, Tenn.
It’s hot in there! PNNL researchers take a close, but nonradioactive, look at metal particle formation in a nuclear fuel surrogate material. What they found will help fill knowledge gaps and could lead to better nuclear fuel designs.
Researchers used novel methods to safely create and analyze plutonium samples. The approaches could prove influential in future studies of the radioactive material, benefitting research in legacy, national security and nuclear fuels.
For the first time, researchers have created a gram of yellowcake — a powdered form of uranium used to produce fuel for nuclear power production — using modified acrylic fibers to extract it from seawater.
Vitrifying nuclear waste for storage is complicated by aluminum and understanding this behavior is vital. Research suggests that upon radiolysis, the properties of humid aluminum particles do not change substantially but hydrogen is formed.
Six energy technologies that do everything from protect fish to monitor the health of flow batteries are getting a boost at PNNL with support from DOE's Technology Commercialization Fund.
Steve Short, a nuclear engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been selected as a fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.