The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has commissioned its newest research facility, the Translational Research Capability (TRC), a multidisciplinary center located only a few hundred yards away from the historic Graphite Reactor.

The Graphite Reactor, a national historic landmark still standing at ORNL, was built during the Manhattan Project and was the world’s first continuously operating nuclear reactor. More than eight decades later, research in the TRC builds on a foundation created during ORNL’s earliest work.

A unique and versatile example of ORNL’s emphasis on collaboration across disciplines, the TRC incorporates a range of programs from several major research areas at the lab. Its specialized design encourages frequent researcher interaction to advance both laboratory and national priorities by exploring topics such as materials, quantum information science, energy storage, nuclear energy and national security. Many innovative TRC research programs thriving today are rooted in groundbreaking research at the Graphite Reactor.

The 100,000-square-foot TRC was custom-built for scientific exploration on the former site of the Clinton Engineer Works headquarters — the site of which later became ORNL — and is now fully operational. The lab celebrated the commissioning of the TRC this week with an open house and dedication to mark the occasion.

Specialized equipment has been installed throughout the TRC, with a host of customized features incorporated into the design of the building specifically to facilitate the science mission. TRC showcases one-of-a-kind capabilities, like the most arid dry lab in the DOE complex, enabling innovative research in energy storage. Quantum research requires incredibly delicate instrumentation, so the quantum labs have floors mechanically isolated from the building to reduce vibration while continuous aluminum shielding embedded in the walls and floors protects from electromagnetic interference.

A powerful past reverberates today

ORNL’s iconic post-WWII neutron pioneers and Nobel Prize winners, including the lab’s first research director Eugene Wigner, paved the way for the TRC. Their efforts led directly to iconic ORNL facilities like the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), a leading international research reactor since the 1960s, and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), the world’s most powerful accelerator-based pulsed neutron source.

“Eugene Wigner is known for the Wigner effect, resulting from neutron irradiation in graphite,” said Yutai Kato, Materials Science and Technology Division director. “This closely relates to his original vision for ORNL, where physical science and nuclear technology intersect. Historic ORNL research on molten salt corrosion, nickel alloy development and creep study connect directly to what we do today in these areas at the TRC.”

Developing materials to withstand extreme conditions

The lab’s foundations rest on the critical materials science research of the early 1940s that made the Graphite Reactor possible. Not only graphite, but aluminum, uranium, plutonium and various alloys would play key roles.

Today, TRC researchers use specialized equipment to develop and test materials for demanding energy and industrial applications. Large laboratory spaces and material-handling equipment allow researchers to process and study materials at scales difficult to accommodate in conventional laboratories.

Other specialized materials efforts that branch out from early Graphite Reactor research include the Severe Accident Test Station, where a distant cousin to the lab’s early fission-specific accident research continues. ORNL’s Accident-Tolerant Fuel Analysis evaluates advanced nuclear fuels, and Ceramic Matrix Composites research develops tougher, lighter composites for use in aerospace and energy systems.

The study of Corrosion — how materials degrade in extreme environments — and Creep — how structured materials like alloys and ceramics deform over time under extreme stress and temperatures — were foundational concerns for research when designing and building the Graphite Reactor. Both remain essential to a variety of ORNL research today, with much of that work taking place at the TRC.

From reactor calculation to scientific computing

Although mechanical computing at the Graphite Reactor during wartime was minimal, some manual modeling did occur and dealt with complex calculations.

“Science is a numbers game, and the early nuclear work required extensive calculations,” said Bill Cabage, retired ORNL science writer. “ORACLE, the lab’s first vacuum-tube- powered showpiece computer, was one of the first breakthroughs aided by computation simulation, occurring with ORNL’s ion channeling research in the early 1960s.”

In the early 1990s, ORNL reemerged as a force in scientific computing, as the value of computational simulation was increasingly appreciated. By the early 21^st century, ORNL was home to several record-breaking supercomputers. Those seeds were planted by the computational needs of the early reactor-based research at the Graphite Reactor.

In contrast with the Graphite Reactor’s early days, when humans with a particular computational skillset were referred to as “computers,” computing and computational sciences have become integral to scientific research at ORNL.

From quantum physics to quantum information science

“ORNL’s first scientific director, Eugene Wigner, received his Nobel Prize in 1963 not for nuclear engineering, which he practically invented, but for his contributions to the understanding of the role of mathematical symmetry in quantum states and particles,” said Cabage. “We have roots in quantum science here, as well.”

From the modeling of cohesion energies for molten salt droplets to superconducting qubits as a potential source for neutrino detection, physics concepts explored at the Graphite Reactor remain active today.

Quantum information science and technology spans a range of applications, including computing, sensing, materials and networking.

The requirements of quantum research were integrated into the infrastructure of TRC.

“We were involved in the justification, the design, construction progress checks and commissioning of the TRC with the goal of delivering experimental quantum capabilities in quantum networking, computing, sensing and materials that were not previously possible in the existing infrastructure,” said Nicholas Peters, head of the Quantum Information Science Section.

 Initial study of quantum physics’ applicability to various technologies — such as lasers and MRIs — were focused on early attempts at manipulation and were often referred to as Quantum Technology 1.0. This approach has evolved into mastering control of quantum mechanical effects, known as Quantum Technology 2.0.

“The Graphite Reactor was an anchor for the research, development and application of Quantum 1.0 technologies that has now become historical for controlling nuclear reactions,” said Travis Humble, director of the lab’s Quantum Science Center. “By comparison, the TRC is a newly formed anchor for Quantum 2.0 technologies, acting as the footprint for our first on-premises quantum computer, the platform for our advanced quantum sensing research and the testbed for our local quantum network.”

If not a direct line, ORNL IT Project Manager Josh Cunningham sees at least a parallel line of symmetry between the lab’s new quantum computer, Pathfinder, and the Graphite Reactor.

“The Graphite Reactor gave researchers access to a novel physical system with which they could conduct experiments that had not previously been possible,” Cunningham said. “Pathfinder serves a similar role today. It puts emerging quantum-computing hardware directly into researchers’ hands, so they can determine what it can do, where it falls short, and how it might be integrated with other scientific capabilities. In that sense, TRC continues the experimental model established across the street — building unique research platforms and then using them to open entirely new areas of science.”

On an historic site closely tied to ORNL’s early history, research at the TRC is breaking new ground with cutting-edge technology designed for future-focused innovation. Like the Graphite Reactor decades in its era, the TRC is enabling new research by unlocking access to unprecedented scientific inquiries. Its links to the past remain strong, but the TRC is already building a legacy all its own.

More than 60 years since it was deactivated, the Graphite Reactor looms large across the entirety of the ORNL campus. As Humble points out, at certain times each day, the TRC lies literally in the Graphite Reactor’s shadow, prompting a question: “Is the impact from this historical icon a standard we should strive for from our modern selves?”