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  • Obama highlights next generation nuclear reactors in the SOTU

    President Obama, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, cited work being performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory as an example of cutting edge research aimed at solving the energy challenge.

  • After getting a shout-out from President Obama, ORNL’s Kothe says, ‘Now we’ve got to deliver’

    It was about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when Doug Kothe, nuclear engineer and director of the Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, got a call from ORNL colleague Jess Gehin. Gehin had been online at NPR.org and had found an advance copy of President Obama’s State of the Union address. He excitedly told Kothe that he needed to take a look at one of the lines in the speech.

  • Supercomputer Starts Up 'Virtual Reactor'

    The fields of nuclear energy and high-performance computing research may seem worlds apart. But in the minds of top experts, they have the potential, when working together, to lead to significant breakthroughs.

  • CASL project powers nuclear energy resurgence

    When Doug Kothe entered nuclear engineering school in 1983, the graduate chairman had this message: Don't worry about a job. There are lots of nuclear reactors to decommission. That was then. Three decades later, Kothe is leading one of the most significant U.S. nuclear engineering research and development projects in a generation. But the amazing reactor he's helping build doesn't use steel and concrete. It's virtual.

  • Nuclear Energy: Back to the Future

    Almost three decades ago, as a chemical engineering undergraduate student, I made what was for me a momentous career and life decision to apply for entrance into the nuclear navy.

  • Modeling a new way in nuclear

    NC State's College of Engineering is playing a key leadership role in a major research initiative funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) that will use computer models to develop innovative new approaches to nuclear power.

  • Was CASL the lab’s biggest win in 2010?

    During a recent interview with Oak Ridge National Lab Director Thom Mason, I asked him if CASL was the biggest victory for the lab in 2010. CASL stands for Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Lightwater Reactors, and it was the ORNL-led proposal that won the nuclear simulation and modeling hub put up for bids by the Dept. of Energy with multiple years of funding.

  • DOE USA, CASL: Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs

    As part of a broad effort to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman today announced the selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub.

  • DOE USA, CASL: Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs

    As part of a broad effort to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman today announced the selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub.

  • Build 'Em and They'll Come

    Kishore Mahbubani, the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, is over for tea and I am telling him about what I consider to be the most exciting, moon-shot-quality, high-aspiration initiative proposed by President Obama that no one has heard of. It's a plan to set up eight innovation hubs to solve the eight biggest energy problems in the world.

  • CUNY Energy Institute
    The CUNY Energy Institute is proudly training the next generation's nuclear workforce at the City College of New York (CCNY). Nuclear power currently contributes 70% of the nation's carbon-free energy and safely provides reliable baseload electricity for the US grid.
  • CASL Names Bennett Johnston to Board of Directors

    Former United States Senator J. Bennett Johnston has been named to the Board of Directors of the US Department of Energy's first energy innovation hub—Modeling and Simulation for Nuclear Reactors—the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL).

  • Westinghouse to Spearhead Industrial Applications of U.S. DOE's Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub

    Westinghouse Electric Company will be the key organization spearheading industrial applications for one of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Innovation Hubs. As part of a broad effort to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman recently announced selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Modeling and Simulation for Nuclear Reactors Innovation Hub.

  • University of Michigan named 'national nuclear energy hub'

    The University of Michigan has been named part of a national hub for boosting U.S. nuclear energy research and development. The university is to apply advanced capabilities of the world's most powerful computers to advance nuclear reactor design and engineering.

  • LANL helps create 'virtual' nuclear reactor

    Los Alamos National Laboratory is participating in a five-year, $122 million project to create a virtual nuclear reactor that could lead to a new generation of safer, longer-lasting and less-expensive nuclear power plants.

  • Release the Kraken: Energy Hubs and Simulation

    The transition at the U.S. Department of Energy from a business oriented secretary – Samuel Bodman, who also had been Director of M.I.T.’s School of Engineering Practice – to a research oriented secretary – Steven Chu, previously the director of the Berkeley National Laboratory – has, naturally enough, led to an increased stress on research. While DOE always engages in research, Chu's touting of energy hubs as engines of new ideas, as mini-Manhattan Projects, has been consistent.

  • U-M part of new national Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Innovation Hub

    The University of Michigan will be part of part of the Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub announced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that will use advanced capabilities of the world's most powerful computers to make significant leaps forward in nuclear reactor design and engineering.

  • Los Alamos expertise integral to Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub

    Los Alamos National Laboratory materials scientists and computer modeling experts have been selected to participate in an effort by the U.S. Department of Energy to create a “virtual” reactor that could lead to the next generation of safer, longer-lasting, and less-expensive nuclear reactors.

  • NC State To Play Key Role In DOE Team On Nuclear Energy Innovation

    Experimenting with new designs and operation techniques for nuclear power plants is a tricky business, since even small changes can pose significant safety and financial risks. But the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a major research initiative that will use computer models to develop innovative new approaches to nuclear power that will result in safer, more cost-effective energy – and North Carolina State University is playing a key leadership role in the program.

  • U-M part of national Nuclear Innovation Energy Hub

    The University of Michigan has been named part of an energy hub using advanced capabilities of the world's most powerful computers to make significant leaps forward in nuclear reactor design and engineering.

  • Oak Ridge supercomputers to model nuclear reactors

    The future of nuclear energy will be found in software. The Department of Energy announced this week it will spend $122 million over the next five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub.

  • Oak Ridge supercomputers to model nuclear reactors

    The future of nuclear energy will be found in software. The Department of Energy announced this week it will spend $122 million over the next five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub.

  • MIT partners in DOE-funded Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub

    MIT is one of nine partners in a new Nuclear Energy Innovation Hub announced by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman on May 28. The Hub, also known as the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), will be led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and in addition to MIT includes partners from universities, industry and other national labs.

  • Oak Ridge National Lab to lead Reactor Simulation Innovation Hub

    A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received $122 million and access to the world’s most powerful computers to speed the development of the next generation of nuclear reactors. The award from the Department of Energy creates the first energy innovation hub the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors headquartered at Oak Ridge.