Cleaning up Hanford is no easy task: it is one of the world's largest and most complex environmental remediation projects. The nation's top engineering firms are on the job and the Department of Energy's PNNL is helping.

Using a natural catalyst from bacteria for inspiration, researchers have now reported the fastest synthetic catalysts to date for hydrogen production-- producing 45 million hydrogen molecules per second.

Oil spills could be cleaned up in the icy, rough waters of the Arctic with a chemically modified sawdust material that absorbs up to five times its weight in oil and stays afloat for at least four months.

Nuclear power figures prominently in our country's energy portfolio and is essential to our economic and environmental security.

There is a science website for kids that defines materials science as "the study of stuff" and, in the simplest of terms, that's right.

In fast-neutron reactors, fuel is sealed in ~7 millimeter diameter steel tubes called cladding. When a high-energy "fast" neutron strikes an atom in the steel, it can knock the atom out of place, like a cue ball striking another billiard ball. This leaves two types of damage in the metal: an empty spot where the atom was, and the displaced atom wedged between other atoms. Over time, these defects typically drive undesirable rearrangement of the microstructure, potentially reducing the life of the cladding.

Steve Jobs said, "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." That is especially true in research and development. New technologies and creative solutions do not materialize overnight or on their own.

PNNL takes pride in advancing scientific frontiers and developing solutions to vexing problems. In particular, we apply our technical expertise to address national needs in security, energy and the environment.

Software that can reason like an analyst and a new way of disinfecting rooms won awards from the Federal Laboratory Consortium.

As Tri-Citians, we're fortunate that we don't have the frustrating traffic and long commutes that our friends in Seattle and Portland endure. And with lower prices at the pump, we don't think much about fuel efficiency.

On October 22, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)​​​​​​​granted Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station a 40-year operating license for its new Unit 2 reactor. This is the first nuclear reactor to be granted an operating license by the NRC in two decades.