When Brian Fricke walks into a supermarket, evidence of his scientific achievement is all around in the refrigerated cases housing the fresh fruits and vegetables. As an Oak Ridge National Laboratory building equipment researcher, Fricke has a long history of making sure that produce is kept fresh in an energy efficient and environmentally sound manner.

To advance sensor technologies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers studied piezoelectric materials, which convert mechanical stress into electrical energy, to see how they could handle bombardment with energetic neutrons. This irradiation disturbs the position and behavior of atoms, which can affect the conversion of mechanical stresses into electricity.

Sensors made of piezoelectric materials could help guide the design of prototype nuclear reactors and monitor the health of aging reactors — if the materials can withstand extreme conditions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have retrofitted a commercial refrigeration container designed to ensure COVID-19 vaccines remain at ultra-low temperatures during long transport and while locally stored.

Most COVID vaccines, depending on the manufacturer, are stored at minus 70 or 30 degrees Celsius. Current transport methods use dry ice to maintain desired temperatures. However, longer travel times, particularly to remote locations without supportive infrastructure, require extended refrigeration.

Moe Khaleel has been selected to lead the National Security Sciences Directorate, or NSSD, at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In his role as associate lab director, he will oversee efforts in nuclear security, nonproliferation, biosecurity, cybersecurity, grid security and security for manufacturing, autonomous systems and other emerging fields.

“I am excited about working with the NSSD staff at the forefront of addressing national security challenges, and I look forward to the accomplishments we are going to make,” Khaleel said.

Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2021 continued apace, with developments across the lab’s broad science and technology missions. Among our most popular news stories in the past year:

Supercomputing: Supercomputers aid scientists studying the smallest particles in the universe