Recycling polyolefin materials is challenging. One waste management strategy is plastic upcycling. New work demonstrates a single-step upcycling route coupling cracking and alkylation, recycling carbon and keeping valuable resources active.

The Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy acting assistant secretary makes his first visit to a national laboratory in his new role, touring PNNL's Radiochemical Processing Laboratory.

PNNL researchers review ceramic-metal composite technology for immobilizing radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors, including advanced reactors.

PNNL researchers use chemometric analysis to model chemistry in molten salt.

Resolving how nanoparticles come together is important for industry and environmental remediation. New work predicts nanoparticle aggregation behavior across a wide range of scales for the first time.

A poem inspired by radioactive tank waste—“Can a Scientist Dream it Alone?”—was awarded first place in the Department of Energy’s Poetry of Science Art Contest.

Irradiated boehmite nanoplatelets form smaller aggregates and have a rougher surface than non-irradiated platelets.

A PNNL innovation uses steam to recover heat from the high-temperature reactor effluent in the HTL process, substantially reducing the propensity for fouling and potentially reducing costs.

Hydrogen bonding and proton transfer control the identity and reactivity of molecules in highly concentrated and alkaline aluminate solutions.

Researchers identified a new intermediate phase that forms during the crystallization of hydrated aluminum-containing salts.

The amount of radiation in a system influences how fast aggregated boehmite particles dissolve.

Simulations show that pH influences boehmite nanoparticle structure and sorption ability.

Developing a new understanding of the structure of natrophosphate, a complex mineral found in radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Site, by integrating experimental techniques.

The size and concentration of ions influences the aggregation behavior of solutions of boehmite.

Performing a network analysis of forces between particles reveals new insight into shear induced thinning and thickening in non-Newtonian fluids.

IDREAM researchers show that high concentrations of sodium hydroxide significantly impact the molecular and macroscale properties of sodium nitrite solutions.

Researchers in the IDREAM Energy Frontier Research Center unearth new defects during gibbsite crystallization using a multi-instrument approach.

Newly determined energy transfer mechanisms help identify how water releases from and damages irradiated interfaces.

Developing an understanding of how water breaks apart after radiation exposure.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers developed a patented, nearly non-destructive approach, known as liquid secondary ion mass spectrometry, to analyze nuclear samples.