ORNL Team Recognized for “Extraordinary Effort” in Ru-96 Production Campaign

A team of 11 research staff at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been commended by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for their instrumental roles in the campaign to produce the enriched stable isotope ruthenium-96 (Ru-96), last produced in the United States more than 40 years ago. Presented on behalf of Dr. Stephen Binkley, Deputy Director for Science Programs in the Office of Science, these awards express the Department’s appreciation for the tremendous effort that this activity demanded, resulting in a significant capability for the Nation and enabling critical nuclear physics research to move forward. 

The newly enriched Ru-96 provided scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory with a sufficient amount to study the properties of quark-gluon plasma, a new form of matter discovered at the lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider that has not existed since the infant universe.

The Ru-96 production campaign marked the inaugural effort of the newly commissioned Enriched Stable Isotope Prototype Plant (ESIPP) at ORNL, sponsored by the DOE Isotope Program.

Please join us in congratulating the team on this significant achievement!