Josef "Pepa" Matyas, a materials scientist in PNNL’s Nuclear Sciences Division, has been elected a fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). He will be recognized at the ACerS annual meeting on September 30, 2019, in Portland, Ore.

Xenon search successful! A new scanning transmission electron microscope helps PNNL researchers find xenon deep in a section of nuclear fuel cladding.

Installing new access holes (up to 6 feet in diameter) could reduce the overall time and cost to retrieve waste from Hanford's underground storage tanks, according to a structural analysis of the tank domes by PNNL and Becht Engineering.

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.

A recent study pinpointed the reaction front where lithium (Li) dendrites can come into contact with cathode materials. It also detailed the Li propagation pathway and reaction steps that lead to cathode failure.

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.

Imagine a hollow tube thousands of times smaller than a human hair. Now envision filthy water flowing through an array of such tubes, each designed to capture contaminants on the inside, with clean water emerging at the other end.