Number 39 July 2002

Catching the perfect wave

Of the four forces of nature—strong, weak,electromagnetic and gravity—gravity is the

least understood. For example, there is as yet noknown quantum theory of gravity, and even funda-mental issues in “classical” gravity theory remain.Newton summed up gravity as “action at a dis-tance,” assuming that space itself is a void or“nothingness.”

Einstein, on the other hand, talked of gravity as amanifestation of the “curvature” of space. In histheory, space is very much physical.

Tony Mezzacappa, task leader for astrophysicstheory in ORNL’s Physics Division, and his teamare helping to prove that Newton was incorrectabout gravity. The team uses computer modeling tostudy gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein’stheory of gravity. A gravitational wave has neverbeen directly detected, only inferred from observa-tions of pulsing spinning neutron stars, also knownas pulsars.

“When we detect a gravitational wave, it will be ahistoric day,” says Tony. “It will prove that space isnot just nothingness or a void, but that it is activeand physical—a player in the cosmos.”

A gravitational wave is a ripple, or wave, in space-time that is propagated whenever a disturbanceoccurs in the gravitational field of any object. As thewave propagates through space, it changes spaceitself and has an effect on all objects in that space.On Earth this effect could be simulated by throwinga stone in a pond. The impact sends ripples acrossthe pond, and the stone causes the water level in the

pond to rise ever so slightly. The message to rise inresponse to the stone is sent out to the shore in theripples, or waves, that the stone creates.

In Einstein’s theory of gravity, the planets’ orbitsaround the sun are paths in the curved space aroundthe sun, which is nothing more than the sun’s gravita-tional field. To illustrate this using a two-dimensional example, take a rubber sheet, abowling ball and a marble. Pull all the slack out ofthe rubber sheet andrelease the marble.It will easilyglide acrossthe flatsur-

face without making a change in its path.Now pull all of the slack out of the rubbersheet and place the bowling ball in thecenter. The result is that the ball makes anindention in the middle of the sheet, curvingthe surface around the indention. If you nowrelease the marble toward the center it will not shootstraight across the surface. Instead, it will changepaths and curve when it hits the curvature caused bythe bowling ball. The curvature of the sheet illustratesthe effects of gravitation on the fabric of space. Now,if you plucked the rubber sheet near the bowling ball,it would send out ripples in the rubber sheet. In thisexample, plucking the sheet is like disturbing the

gravitational field of a gravitating body, in this casemodeled by the bowling ball, which in turn sendsout gravitational waves.

Most gravitational waves are weak, and they getweaker as they travel away from their source at thespeed of light. This is why gravitational waves aredifficult to detect. All objects have gravitationalfields, and some may produce gravitational waves,but only very dense, asymmetric objects and events,

such as black holes,supernovae and

neutron stars—themost extreme

objects orcataclysmic

events intheuni-verse—

produce gravitational waves thatresearchers hope are strong enough tobe detected.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational

We resume our series of articles by LeadershipTeam members with this issue’s contribution by theOffice of General Counsel Director Steve Porter.

BY STEVE PORTER

Telling lawyer jokes may be a favorite pastimefor ORNL staff, but managing the legal issues

for a multipurpose national laboratory isn’t a jokingmatter. Juggling the wide variety of legal issues thatfaces ORNL is the responsibility of the Office ofGeneral Counsel.

The Office of General Counsel provides a fullrange of legal services to ORNL and UT-Battelle,including counsel in the areas of litigation; humanresources; labor; environmental, safety and health,contracts; procurement; finance; tax; security; and

intellectual property. We provide counsel to the UT-Battelle Board of Governors and Lab management,

as well as to employees who facea challenge in getting their workdone.

Our goal is to provide expertadvice on identification andmanagement of risks and to workcollaboratively with our clients toidentify and implement creativesolutions that allow us to accom-plish our mission while managingthe various risks that come along.

Our office has changed substan-tially in the past three years. Before, much of thelegal work associated with ORNL was provided by

the Y-12 legal office through funding under amemorandum of understanding between LockheedMartin Energy Research (the former ORNL contrac-tor) and Lockheed Martin Energy Systems (theformer Y-12 contractor). Slowly, the ORNL legaloffice has grown and assumed all of the legalresponsibilities associated with the Lab. In addition,our office has changed the way we do business byshifting from a response mode to working moreclosely with our clients to identify potential issuesand avoid or mitigate them before they become bigproblems.

Two Office of General Counsel groups are formedaround two practice areas: patent law and generallaw. The patent law group, headed by George Craig,

Porter

ORNL’s gravitational wave computer models join quest to prove that space is really something

(See COUNSEL, page 4)

(See WAVES, page 4)

A planet or star sits in the curvature, or “shape,”of space, shown here in a two-dimensional slice.The planet’s or star’s mass causes this spatialcurvature. In Einstein’s view, this spatial curva-ture is the gravitational field. Violent stellarevents could cause gravitational waves, whichORNL astrophysicists are working to help detect.

General Counsel handles the multiple legal ends of a multipurpose Lab

Image by Cindy Latham

2 July 2002

is published for the employees andretirees of Oak Ridge National Labora-tory, which is managed and operatedfor the U.S. Department of Energy byUT-Battelle.

Bill Cabage, editorPhone 574-4399E-mail cabagewh@ornl.gov

Deborah Barnes, associate editorPhone 576-0470E-mail barnesds@ornl.gov

fax: 574-1001

On the Web: www.ornl.gov/reporter

DOE Inspector General Hotline: 1-800-541-1625

ORNL has three of DOE’s four winners among the latest round of Presidential Early Career

Award winners, presented this month by PresidentBush. The Presidential Early Career Awards forScience and Engineering are the highest honorbestowed by the U.S. government on outstandingscientists and engineers who are beginning theircareers.

ORNL’s winners, announced July 11 at theWhite House, are Vince Cianciolo of the PhysicsDivision, Ian Anderson of the Metals and CeramicsDivision and Jizhong Zhou of the EnvironmentalSciences Division.

ORNL researchers have won 10 PECASEawards since they were begun in 1996.

Vince Cianciolo, the fourth Physics Divisionresearcher to win a PECASE, was cited for hisleadership in developing a unique scientificprogram and an experimental detector to search forquark-gluon plasma formation atthe Relativistic Heavy IonCollider. RHIC, located atBrookhaven National Labora-tory, has had a majorrepresentation of ORNL re-searchers and engineers whodesigned and built significantportions of the PHENIX detec-tor, including Vince.Experiments with RHIC andPHENIX will shed new light onthe state of the universe moments after the BigBang.

“My particular interest is focused on an exoticparticle, known as the J/ψ,” says Vince. “Theseparticles are created in heavy ion collisions (al-though rarely) and are cleanly observed byPHENIX. Because of the nature of these particles

they are expected to be especially sensitive to theearliest stages of an ion collision, when the condi-tions are hottest and densest. By looking at manycollisions containing this information we hope tocome to a more complete understanding of how thelaws of physics change under such extreme condi-tions.”

Ian Anderson was cited for his leading-edgeresearch in the development of electron beammicrocharacterization techniques for materialsR&D. He is noted for his ability to use his in-depthunderstanding of electron opticsand electron interactions withmatter to design experiments,execute them and developphysics-based mathematicalmodels to gain insight from theinformation they produce.

Ian is considered a leader andinnovator in the fields of quanti-tative spectrum imaging usinglinear multivariate statisticalanalysis and atom location bychanneling-enhanced mi-croanalysis, called ALCHEMI. He managesORNL’s Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) userfacility, one of DOE’s electron beammicrocharacterization facilities. His research hascontributed significantly to the understanding ofstrengthening mechanisms in a number of advancedmaterials.

Jizhong (Joe) Zhou, a former AlexanderHollaender Fellow, has distinguished himself as aleader in four fields: genomic/molecular technolo-gies for ecological and environmental studies;functional genomics of environmental microorgan-isms; microbial community diversity and dynamics;and microorganisms in extreme environments.

His research has pioneered several areas. He firstdemonstrated that microarray-based genomictechnology can be used to analyze microorganismsin complex environmental samples. He has devel-oped several novel high-throughput genomictechnologies, including functional gene arrays,community genome arrays andoligonucleotide arrays foranalyzing microbial communitiesin complex environmentalsamples.

Joe was among the first todemonstrate and validate theusefulness of microarrays formonitoring gene expression inprokaryotes and demonstratedthat microarray hybridization canbe used to reveal gene-specificdifferences among closely relatedmicroorganisms. His studies have shifted thedirection of microbial ecology and biodiversitytoward understanding the mechanisms that shapediversity and, hence, the means of manipulating acommunity. He recovered the most ancient viablecultured bacteria from the deepest subsurface (2,000meters underground) and was the first to observethat magnetite can be produced and metals can bereduced at subzero temperatures.—B.C.

Three Lab researchers receive Presidential Early Career Awards

Cianciolo

Anderson

Zhou

Events since last year’s United Way Campaign have underscored the importance of giving.

ORNL’s 2002 United Way Campaign gets underway in late July, with Human Resources DirectorDarryl Boykins (chairman) and Chief FinancialOfficer Greg Turner (co-chairman) at the helm.

“The Lab’s 2001 campaign was one of the mostsuccessful in East Tennessee, and it was indicativeof the commitment of ORNL staff members toenhancing the quality of our communities,” Darrylsays. “We hope we can sustain our traditional levelof giving this year, particularly since many areaagencies have experienced reduced levels offinancial support since September 11. Understand-ably people were eager to do what they could tohelp those in New York, Washington, D.C., andPennsylvania; however, in some cases, it meant thatwe were not able to do quite as much to assist ourneighbors closer to home. During our campaign,we’ll re-focus on those crucial needs here in ourarea.”

Leadership givers, always an important element ina UW campaign, will be contacted mid-month.Details of the campaign kickoff extravaganza willbe announced soon.

Tell your story: If you have a personal story toshare about how a United Way agency has made adifference among your family members or friends,please contact Cindy Ross Lundy (e-mail lundycr,or phone 574-1642).

Boykins, Turner lead2002 United Way Campaign

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Facilities and Operations’Bruce Upton (right) tidies upKen Parks’ chin during June 7’sice cream celebration of onemillion safe work hours (seepage 3).

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 3

A new critter on the ORRSightings of a new animal on the Oak Ridge

Reservation have been confirmed. When someonetold ORNL Reporter that they thought they had seenan elk on Bethel Valley Road, we asked ORNLWildlife Coordinator Warren Webb if it was true.

Warren says there are two and possibly three elkon the reservation: “They are apparently using it aspart of their rather large home range,” Warren says.“Elk or elk signs (e.g., tracks) have been seen atEGCR, Gallaher Bend, and SNS, among otherplaces.”

Warren says the elk are part of several groups ofthe animals released by the Tennessee WildlifeResources Agency at the Royal Blue WildlifeManagement Area. The release area includes partsof Campbell, Scott, Morgan, Claiborne and Ander-son counties, as well as the Royal Blue area, FrozenHead State Park and the Cumberland Gap NationalPark. TheTWRA released50 elk inDecember 2000as part of aprogram toreestablish herdsin the Southeast.Two morereleases haveoccurred sincethen.

The state’snative elk hadbeen eradicated by the end of the Civil War. Thereappearance of the big animals on the ORR is onemore reason to drive cautiously on Bethel ValleyRoad.

Graphite Reactor Museum gets an upgradeIf you haven’t been there lately, you ought to drop

in. The Graphite Reactor Museum has been refur-bished just in time for the 2002 public tour season.

The Graphite Reactor, of course, is a historicattraction on the site of the first functioning nuclearreactor, a follow-on to the successful University ofChicago “pile” experiment. The reactor is stillthere—you can walk right up to its loading face—as

are the control rooms. A team led byEnrico Fermi achieved criticality inNovember 1943. The reactor served as apilot project for a complex of plutonium-producing reactors in Hanford, Wash.,and its operation continued after the warwith a long reign of service anddiscovery.

The new Graphite Reactor museumincludes new, updated exhibits. Thirteen

new panels now grace the exhibit area—two each for the major Lab research areas of

life sciences, high-performance computing, nationalsecurity, materials science and energy plus an extrapanel for, of course, neutron science, which wasinvented at the GR.

Early impressions from visitors have been verypositive. The public can best access the museum bysigning up for the Oak Ridge Public Tour, whichruns Tuesdays through Fridays at the AmericanMuseum of Science and Energy, where they do therequired registration.

New user facility opens, new homes on horizonORNL dedicated its 20th user facility on June 17.

The Cooling, Heating and Power IntegrationLaboratory enables researchers from industries,universities and other institutions to conduct tests ondistributed energy products and systems.

Distributed generation is electricity produced onsite using fuel cells, microturbines and renewableelectric systems and technologies. Distributedenergy resources make use of energy normally

wasted in the generation ofpower by combining electricitygeneration with heating andcooling systems.

The Lab’s R&D programs onheating, cooling and ventilationgo back to the early 1970s. Oneguest at the dedication, TVABoard Chairman GlenMcCullough, pointed out whythat research has taken on newsignificance, noting that EnergySecretary Spencer Abraham,who visited the Lab almost

exactly one year earlier, “has linked nationalsecurity to energy security.”

Lab Director Bill Madia said that for a nation witha projected need of 1,200 new power plants, distrib-uted energy, renewable resources and improvedpower transmission and other technologies willcome into play. “Technology is a central part of thatsolution,” Bill said.

That same day, Buildings Technology CenterDirector Jeff Christian announced that ORNL wouldlead an effort to build 20 “zero energy” Habitat forHumanity homes in Lenoir City’s Harmony Heightssubdivision. Read more about that on page 5.

I scream, you scream, we all…The June Reporter went to press before ice cream

was served on Friday, June 7. Lab managers and

safety personnel scooped out several flavors at theORNL Cafeteria, the 4500-South Canteen, theSpallation Neutron Source offices, Building 7012,the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the NationalTransportation Research Center.

It was all for a good cause in that the Lab reachedone million hours without a lost workday awaycase. Lost workdays are counted when someone hasbeen injured on the job seriously enough to misswork. Getting to a million hours without a lostworkday was a milestone: The only other times thatmark had been reached in the past five years were inOctober 1998 and in February 2000. At press timefor the July issue, the good news continued withmore than 75 consecutive days, or 1.4 millionhours, without a lost workday case. You can watchthe numbers at www.safety1st.ornl.gov.

A Royal Blue elk release: Some headedfor the ORR.

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Engineering Division Director Tom Etheridgedemonstrates his wicked serve to RebeccaBunch during June 7’s ice cream celebration ofone million safe work hours.

Future Car Congress includes test drivesMore than 800 people from the transportation and

related industries attended the 2002 Future CarCongress held June 3-6 in Arlington, Va. ORNLworked on the planning and implementation of theconference, which focused on the future use ofhydrogen fuel cells to power automobiles 20 yearsdown the road.

The three-day conference addressed issuesinvolved in the development of automotive tech-nologies aimed at dramatically reducing the world’stransportation energy consumption and minimizingvehicle emissions.

With an emphasis on recent fuel-cell technologydevelopments a number of fuel-cell vehicles, as wellas electric vehicles, were on display and availablefor test driving at the Turner-Fairbank HighwayResearch Center in McLean, Va.

The conference also included panel discussions ontransportation issues involving officials fromgovernment and the automotive industry, along withthe presentation of 118 technical papers, 20 of whichwere presented by ORNL researchers. Some of thepapers delivered by ORNL researchers covered thetopics of heat transfer, machine copper rotors,composites, carbon fiber and lightweight metals andalloys.

Reported by Bill Cabage with Fred Strohl

4 July 2002

Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Livingston, La.,recently went live to detect gravitational waves. Thedetector has two tunnels at right angles to each other.Each tunnel is two kilometers in length. At the cornerof the right angles is a laser source. At the end ofeach tunnel are mirrors attached to test masses. Thelaser is used to detect even the slightest motionbetween the test masses, which would be caused by agravitational wave passing through LIGO. LIGO isable to detect the motion of the test masses with suchhigh precision that if the mirrors move as much as

one-trillionth thewidth of a humanhair the motion willbe detected.

“To be right therewhere the firstgravitational wavecould be recordedwas an amazingexperience. It blowsmy mind to think ofwhat this will mean,”Tony said about hisrecent visit to theLIGO site.

Detection sites arebeing prepared inremote locationsworldwide. Theremote sites areselected to try toreduce seismic noisethat could interferewith the necessarylow signal-to-noiseratio. Multiple sitesare also needed for

coincidence, to minimize the likelihood of a false-recorded gravitational wave event.

The tubes of the detector are an L-shape becausegravitational waves are quadrupolar in nature. Thismeans that as a gravitational wave expands they-axis, it compresses the x-axis, and vice-versa. TheL-shape is sufficient to observe the change in boththe x- and y- axes. LIGO detects gravitational wavesaccording to how the space in which it sits changes,confirming that space is an active fabric and not aposition holder. LIGO is able to distinguish betweendifferent sources of gravitational radiation becauseeach source—whether a black hole, neutron star orsupernova—has a different template of characteris-tics, such as frequency and intensity.

With the IBM supercomputers at ORNL, Tony’steam is applying computer modeling to predict whata gravitational wave from different sources will looklike. Tony is leading the collaboration among anumber of universities and institutions, supported byDOE’s Office of Science initiative called ScientificDiscovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC),to apply supercomputer modeling to astrophysicalphenomena.

“We want to be able to say, ‘This is what a blackhole gravitational wave looks like, this is what asupernova gravitational wave looks like,’ and so on,”explains Tony. “We hope to predict neutrino, gammaray and gravitational wave emissions. The moreinformation we have from the detectors, the bettermodels we can build.”

The computer models could be useful in discover-ing more information about the formation of blackholes, the explosion of supernovae, and other stellarevents. Neutrino and gravitational wave informationis the most helpful in determining a good explanationof the supernova explosion mechanism because theseare generated from deep down in the explodingstellar core.

has two other patent attorneys, four patent agents,and three support staff. Their primary function is toidentify and protect the intellectual property arisingunder work performed at ORNL and to assist theTechnology Transfer/Economic DevelopmentDirectorate in the commercialization of that intellec-tual property. Those commercialization efforts canresult in more research dollars flowing into ORNL,assist economic development in our area through theformation of new companies and generate royaltiesthat are used to reward inventors, buy much-neededequipment for the divisions and fund other activitiesthat benefit the Lab.

The patent agents are primarily focused onprotecting the intellectual property that is generatedat the Lab. They work closely with researchers whosuspect that they have generated an invention todefine and refine an “invention disclosure” andcontinue to shepherd that disclosure all the way toan issued patent. In some cases, the patent agentswill prepare the patent application themselves; inothers, they will work with outside patent lawyershired to prepare and prosecute the patent application.

Our patent attorneys oversee the intellectualproperty protection process and also work withcommercialization managers, researchers, andprogram managers on a broad range of contractualrelationships with parties outside the Laboratoryincluding CRADAs, Work for Others agreementsand licenses. UT-Battelle enters into more than 100such agreements annually, reports more than 100invention disclosures to DOE each year and filesmore than 50 patent applications from those disclo-sures.

The general law group, composed of five attor-neys and two support staff, deals with a very widerange of legal issues. Generally, each attorney hasone or more areas of specialized practice and hasrecognized expertise within those areas. As legalissues arise, the appropriate attorney is assigned to

CounselContinued from page 1

WavesContinued from page 1

The detection of gravitational waves would have afar-reaching effect in the fields of physics,astronomy and other sciences. It would prove thatwhat we think about space, as a void or nothingness,is not correct at all.

“It would prove that Einstein’s theory is accurateand that space is an active participant in the events ofthe cosmos,” adds Tony. “It will be simply amazingto think of space in that way.” —Jodi Lockaby

Jodi Lockaby is Communications and CommunityOutreach’s summer intern from Dr. Mark Littmann’sscience writing program at the University ofTennessee.

If LIGO detects gravita-tional waves, Einstein wasright. This chalk portraitby Katie Terpstra wonfirst place in the amateurcompetition and was votedpeople’s choice at thisyear’s Street PaintingFestival at the AmericanMuseum of Science andEnergy. She drew it on aUT-Battelle sponsoredspace.

With the IBM supercomputers at ORNL, Tony’s team is using computer modeling topredict what a gravitational wave from different sources will look like.

deal with those issues. Each of the support director-ates, due to the nature of the legal issues associatedwith their activities, has a designated attorney forsupport. Legal issues arising from the researchdirectorates generally cover a broader range ofissues, so assignments are made on a case-by-casebasis depending upon the subject matter. Most of thegeneral legal issues arising at ORNL are thoseassociated with ES&H, nuclear safety, humanresources, labor relations, litigation and contracts,but the practices areas routinely involve many otherareas of the law.

The past 18 months have been especially interest-ing and challenging for our office. Thethird-party-financed private facilities project hasrequired extraordinary effort from several of theattorneys as well as the support staff. There weresignificant and unique legal issues associated withthat project, and getting six acres of land transferredfrom DOE, selecting a developer, and securingfinancing for the project were landmarkachievements.

Unfortunately, a number of legal actions arosefrom the downsizing in November 2000, and thoseactions provide a major challenge to us as we try todeal with all of the other, everyday legal issues thatcontinue to arise. Currently our largest challenge ismanaging a burgeoning backlog of worker’s com-pensation cases arising out of DOE’s retired workerscreening program. In 12 months, that caseload hasgrown from a handful to hundreds of claims as aresult of those legacy cases.

The Office of General Counsel is committed toproviding expert legal counsel and representation toORNL and UT-Battelle in a timely and efficientmanner. In addition, we are committed to workingwith our clients to find creative solutions to legalissues that allow our mission to be accomplishedwhile appropriately managing risks associated withthe work.

And we do occasionally like to hear a good lawyerjoke.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 5

Electric bills could be a thing of the past, thanks to the powerful technologies of Net Zero

Energy Building houses, which would make housesof the future power generators as well as powerconsumers.

Net Zero Energy Building houses are designed toinclude technologies that allow energy to be pro-duced, as well as used efficiently, directly in thehome. This approach reduces energy costs. Whenhouses reach the goal of producing as much energyas is used, electric bills drop to zero.

“The lessons taught by these houses will be toshow builders, utilities, and home owners the “leapfrog” integrated technologies on the near horizon,”says Jeff Christian, director of ORNL’s BuildingsTechnology Center.

Twenty new houses will mark the commitment ofORNL, the Department of Energy, the TennesseeValley Authority, and private industry to a Habitatfor Humanity Subdivision of Technologies for ZeroEnergy Buildings. The prototype houses willshowcase a variety of energy-production enablingtechnologies, such as solar electric cells, as well asenergy-efficient appliances, such as heat pumpwater heaters and refrigerators. The goal is to havethese technologies marketable by 2010.

“Our vision is to build a series of prototypehouses,” Jeff says. “Some will be Building Americahouses using efficient appliances and design, andsome will be Net Zero Energy houses capable ofcapturing and producing electricity.”

DOE’s Building America Teams partner withbuilders to construct practical, cost-effective andenergy-efficient housing. Building America homesuse 50 percent less electricity than average housesbecause of improved heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units and water-heating systems. Theseenergy-saving technologies can be incorporated intohouses at an additional cost to the builder of lessthan $1000. In some plans there is no additional costto attain the energy savings.

Net Zero Energy Buildings are designed toconsume no more power than is generated on site onan annual average basis. When the homeowners

need additional power, it can be pulled off thepower grid. TVA can also buy back excess electric-ity produced to help meet peak demands for power.It is hoped that the give and take of this power willbalance out at a yearly average of zero. Net ZeroEnergy Building houses are up to 90 percent moreefficient than the average house.

Net Zero Energy Building homes are primarilypowered by a photovoltaic system that uses solarcollectors to turn sunlight into household electricity.As the technologies are developed, ORNL research-ers hope to introduce into the houses other methodsof collecting and converting energy into useable

electricity, some quite novel such as a small woodboiler coupled with a small microturbine. Efficientappliances, such as heating and cooling systems, andstructural materials are also important in an energy-efficient design.

“Houses today tend to be leaky, taking in andreleasing hot or cold air,” says Jeff.

Net Zero Energy Building houses will be builtairtight. The first prototype uses structural insulatedpanels. The panels consist of alayer of insulated foamsandwiched between twolayers of oriented strand board.The wood is glued to the foamto form a solid panel, whichwhen correctly fastened to theother panels form a very tightbuilding envelope. Structuralinsulated panels form thehouse’s entire outer envelope-they provide the structure,insulation and airtight barrierfor the roof, floor, and walls.

ORNL’s vision for thesehomes started at a strategicplanning meeting on March18-19 that placed Net ZeroEnergy Buildings as a topactivity. At a conference inWashington, D.C., DOEAssistant Secretary DavidGarman encouraged Jeff’splans by emphasizing the needto “reduce the burden ofenergy prices on the disadvan-taged.” Jeff spoke with DOEprogram sponsor GeorgeJames and received approvalto move forward.

Next, Jeff visited with TVApersonnel and found themvery receptive to this concept because of the benefitsof providing peak cooling demand. TVA providedORNL 10 kW of solar thin film PV collectors and

some funding to start investigating. With thecollectors in hand, Jeff approached the Habitatfor Humanity board of directors and proposedthe idea of building a quick solar carport to have

something to show off at the DER/ZEB Showcaseheld in June. The directors suggested that carportsmight set an unneeded precedence for others in theneighborhood, and said, “How about a house?” Jeffreturned to DOE and TVA with the idea of develop-ing the first Habitat International Building Americazero energy house. This would provide a realconcept house to launch construction of 20 excitingprototypes consisting of both Building America andNet Zero Energy Building standards.

“Whole houses put it all together,” Jeff says.“ORNL and the Loudon County Habitat up until thisfirst ZEB worked together only on specific building

components—like the walls or the HVAC systemR&D. With the plan in hand, the Structural Insu-lated Panel Association was approached to exploretheir interest in partnering on this project. Theresponse was overwhelming. Five structuralinsulated panel manufacturers offered panels tocomplete five Habitat houses in this ‘ZEB Village.’Panel design was initiated May 28. Within a weekPacemaker Plastics, a structural insulated panel

manufacturer out ofOhio, sent different plansfor the home to fit the1067-square-foot floorplan. Habitat startedconstruction on June 1.The footers, pillars andcrawl space walls werecompleted and backfilledon June 17. The panelswere shipped and arrivedon site at 8 a.m. June 17,the day of the DER/ZEBshowcase. Everythingfell into place veryquickly.”

The program hascontinued to gainsupport. After a talk atthe Loudon CountyCivitan meeting, severalcompany representativesoffered services andmaterials for the pro-gram. TVA continuedtheir support by makinga significant commitmentto the program.

“Over the next threeyears, TVA will sponsorfive homes in this zeroenergy neighborhood,”

announced Glen McCullough, TVA chairman, at adedication ceremony for ORNL’s BuildingsTechnology User Facility on June 17. Jeff hopesthat TVA’s commitment will challenge others tomake similar commitments.

“We have overwhelming support for this pro-gram,” says Jeff. “How it all came together is onehappy tale.”

The first Building America Zero Energy BuildingHabitat International House in the world was builtin late June. ORNL will monitor the house for ashort time for experimentation, but a family of fourwill move in shortly after construction is completed.The house and the family will become a part of avirtual laboratory and the concept of Net ZeroEnergy Building homes will be evaluated underactual conditions. “ This is more that just a house,”says Jeff. “This is a landmark that will be recordedin history as the first Building America HabitatZEB.—Jodi Lockaby

Goal of zeroBTC’s Lenoir City project includes first Habitat International Zero Energy building

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“How it all came together is one happy tale.”

A roof panel is installed on the Lenoir Cityhouse, which went up in just three days. Thehouse will have a heat-pump water heater andmay be the testbed for a wood-firedmicroturbine that will generate electric power.The roof will also have solar panels.

6 July 2002

Buildings are coming down, too. Building 6003, oneof three slated for demolition, was razed on June25.

If you build a parking lot, they will come.Spaces on Southside Drive were filling up afew days after they were completed.

Busy summerORNL bustles withconstruction activity as newbuildings go up and someold ones come down.

The SNS’s linac tunnel, now underground, saw daylight for a time.

Work on the Spallation Neutron Source onChestnut Ridge and the privately funded facilitieson the main campus is in full swing.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory 7

ServiceAnniversariesJuly 2002

45 years: Sydney J. Ball, Nuclear Science &Technology

30 years: John M. Barnes, Nuclear Science &Technology; George F. Flanagan, Research Reac-tors; R. A. Honeycutt, HR & Diversity Programs

25 years: Ann M. Aaron, Research Reactors; J. D.Barncord, Operational Safety Services; J. F. Brooks,Logistical Services; Danny A. Cantrell, Dickey W.Howard, Gaston E. Powers and Jeanie J. Vivyan,Craft Resources; Mary A. Collins, SNS DeputyProject Director’s Office; Anne R. Ehrenshaft,Environmental Sciences; Brenda C. Gouldy, DanielT. Ingersoll, R. T. Primm III and John D. Randolph,Nuclear Science & Technology; Ed Grostick,Energy & Engineering Sciences Dir.; William L.Jackson, Computational Sciences & Engineering;Bill Jones, Laboratory Protection; Gary Q. Kirk,Quality Services; Susan N. Lewis, OperationalSafety Services; Candace H. Meade, Contracts;Robin L. O’Hatnick, Environmental TechnologyPrograms; Charles K. Valentine, Jr., EnvironmentalProtection & Waste Services; Joseph G. Winfree,Networking & Computing Technologies; Donald R.McTaggart, Nuclear Science & Technology (June)

20 years: Steven W. Cox, Mary S. Goodman andSherl Reed, Craft Resources; Orin W. Holland andStephen J. Pennycook, Solid State

Fred Bertrand is retiring as director of the PhysicsDivision after 33 years of service at ORNL. As

Physics Division director, Fred oversaw the develop-ment of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facilityinto one of the world’s leading low-energy nuclearphysics research facilities. During his tenure, anunprecedented four research staff members in thePhysics Division were awarded Presidential EarlyCareer awards.

He’s being succeeded by Glenn Young, currentlythe Experimental Nuclear Physics group leader anddeputy spokesman of the PHENIX experiment at theRelativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BrookhavenNational Laboratory.

Fred received his Ph.D. in physics in 1968 fromLouisiana State University. He joined the researchstaff in the ORNL Physics Division in 1970 follow-ing the completion of research associateappointments at ORNL and the University ofSouthern California. He has published more than 200papers in nuclear structure and giant resonances. He

served as a group leader, section head and associatedivision director before being named director in1995. Fred is a fellow of the American PhysicalSociety and has served on numerous DOE andNational Science Foundation panels.

Old-timers will probably recall seeing a few tacked up around here: Produce for Victory!

Posters on the American Homefront, 1941-45, aSmithsonian Institution traveling exhibition thatfocuses on posters circulated in theUnited States during World War II topromote patriotism and to increaseindustrial productivity, will be ondisplay this summer at the AmericanMuseum of Science and Energy.

AMSE, in cooperation withHumanities Tennessee, will host thefinal statewide showing of theexhibition, which has traveled toeight Tennessee communities overthe past 12 months. It will be onview through August 11.

The Smithsonian portion of theexhibition features 25 reproductionsof WWII posters from the collectionsof the Smithsonian Institution’sNational Museum of AmericanHistory. AMSE is adding a statewidecomponent to the exhibit titled “World War II:Tennessee Home Front”, a six panel exhibition withartifacts that showcase Tennessee’s industriesproduction, aviation training, and land maneuvers.A WWII victory garden is an outdoor exhibit at

Fred Bertrand (right) looks at a map of ORICbeam lines with Noah Johnson (left) and DanHoren in this 1986 photo.

Physics’ Director Fred Bertrand ends a productive watch

AMSE exhibit brings back posters of WWII

Benefit Plans’ retirement savings seminarshave begun a new round. On the third Mondayof each month, Benefits Management’sMichael Moore will present a series of semi-nars titled, Your Savings Plan: Charting YourRetirement Security. The two-hour sessions(4:30–6:30 p.m.) will be held at the BenefitPlans offices, 104 Union Valley Road, OakRidge. All interested UT-Battelle and BWXT-Y-12 employees and their spouses arewelcome. Remaining scheduled sessions areon July 15, August 19, September 16, October21, November 18 and December 16.

Session topics include “What’s It All About:An Introduction to the Savings Program”;“Selecting Investments for My Savings Plan:An Introduction to Basic Investing Concepts”;“Planning for Retirement: An Overview of theEconomics of Retirement and the Need forPersonal Financial Planning”; and a session ofspecial topics and a question and answersession.

Retirement savingsseminars continueAMSE that features the prescribed plantings.

The posters in Produce for Victory!—displayed infactories, shop windows, schools and other publicplaces around the country—rallied a nation to take

the steps necessary at home tosupport soldiers in the field.Citizens were instructed to con-serve automobile fuel bycarpooling, to organize scrap drivesand to grow victory gardens toreduce the burden on the nation’sfarmers who were growing cropsfor overseas consumption. Theexhibition especially concentrateson how the patriotic movementaffected factory workers, asmanagement pushed them tobecome more productive on thejob.

Produce for Victory! is one of aseries of exhibitions circulatingnationally as part of Museums onMain Street, a collaborative

partnership between the Smithsonian and statehumanities councils across the country, in coopera-tion with the Federation of State HumanitiesCouncils.—Reported by Lissa Clark

Senior superlatives added to ORNL’s listLast issue we gave an impressive list of area students—the children of Lab employees—who were

tops in their high school classes. There are more. Stuart Hanson, son of Paul Hanson of the Environ-mental Sciences Division and Nancy, was valedictorian at Oliver Springs High School. JoshLankford, son of Trish Lankford in the Life Sciences Division and Roger, at Bechtel Jacobs, wassalutatorian.

PRSRT STDU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #37Powell, TN

P.O. Box 2008Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6146

Inside

Number 39, July 2002

Gravitational waves, page 1

Counselors, page 1

Lab Notes: Elk, new user facility,Graphite Reactor Museum facelift, page 3

Zero energy homes, page 5

Construction all over, page 6

WWII poster exhibit, page 7

ORNL researchers have won three R&D 100 Awards from R&D Magazine, which annually gives awards for the 100 most significant innovations of

the year. ORNL has the national lab-leading total of 112 since the awards beganin 1963 and is second only to General Electric.

Lab Director Bill Madia says the three R&D 100 awards “are once again atribute to the truly outstanding talent of our research staff. Year after year, thescience and discoveries at ORNL are recognized among the best in the world.”

The honors were for the following processes or inventions:Any Source, Any Position Fluid Handler (ASAP), developed and submit-

ted jointly by Mitch Doktycz, Life Sciences Division; Steven Hicks,Engineering Science and Technology Division; and Innovadyne Technologiesof Santa Rosa, Calif.

ASAP enables the high-speed transfer of small volumes of liquid betweensource and target. The ability to transfer small amounts means that less liquid isused during experimentation and development, translating into significant costsavings.

ORNL Spiral Notch Torsion Test, developed and jointly submitted by Jy-

ORNL wins three R&D 100 awards, adds to lab-leading total

ORNLpeople

ORNL researchers Phillip Bingham, MattChidley, Jim Goddard, Jim Hardy, GregHanson, Kathy Hylton, Jeff Price, ChuckSchaich, John Simpson, Ken Tobin and JohnTurner of the Engineering Science and TechnologyDivision, and Larry Baylor and Dave Rasmussenof the Fusion Energy Division have been awardedthe 2002 Federal Laboratory Award of Excellencein Technology Transfer for their direct-to-digitalholography process. The technology allows forhigh-speed and high-sensitivity detection of defectsin semiconductor device structures.

ORNL received the lion’s share—four of seven—of this year’s Battelle Critical Science andTechnology Challenges. Each year Battelle gives up

to ten $1,000 awards for researchers’ ideas on thecritical science and technology challenges facingBattelle and its affiliated national laboratories overthe next 3 to 10 years. ORNL’s four winners areGyula Eres (Solid State Division) and David C.Joy (Metals and Ceramics Division), “NanoscaleMaterials Processing Using Ultra Low EnergyElectron Beams”; Andrei Gakh (National SecurityDirectorate), Peter Bonnesen and Bruce Moyer(Chemical Sciences Division), “Chiral Extraction”;Felix L. Paulauskas and Cliff Eberle (M&CDivision), “Inexpensive Precursors and Processesfor Manufacturing Carbon Fibers”; and Steven H.Overbury and Sheng Dai (Chemical SciencesDivision), “Active Nanoporous Membranes forUltra-selective Catalysis and Separation.”

The Office of Science has asked the FusionEnergy Sciences Advisory Committee to form ahigh-level panel to use the results of the Fusion 2002Snowmass Summer Study and recommend U.S.

strategy for the next step—a fusion burning plasmaexperiment. FED’s Stan Milora and NerminUckan, along with John Sheffield (JIE/ORNL) willbe serving.

The Lab has filled several vacancies recently.David Hill is coming to ORNL as director of theNuclear Science and Technology Division. Hecomes from Argonne National Laboratory, where hehas been deputy associate laboratory director forEngineering Research. Brian A. Worley has beennamed director of the Computational Sciences andEngineering Division. Brian has been acting directorof CSED since the division was formed in October2001. Glenn R. Young will succeed Fred E.Bertrand, Jr., as director of the Physics Division,effective July 1 (see page 7). Glenn is currentlyleader of the Experimental Nuclear Physics groupand deputy spokesman of the PHENIX experiment atthe Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at BrookhavenNational Laboratory.

An Wang, Nuclear Science and Technology Division; Ken Liu, Metals andCeramics Division; and Inventure Laboratories of Knoxville.

The Spiral Notch Torsion Test is a portable system that tests fracture toughnessand strength of materials, such as ceramics, composites, polymers, carbon foamand concrete, to be used in designs. This system will provide engineers withstate-of-the-art materials testing and analysis to aid in design work, with theprimary aim to prevent accidental cracking or breaking of the structural materials.

DSI AIR: Defect Source Identifier–Automated Image Retriever, developedand jointly submitted by Ken Tobin, Tom Karnowski and Regina Ferrell, all fromthe Engineering Science and Technology Division, and Applied Materials ofSanta Clara, Calif.

DSI AIR is a software product that solves manufacturing problems in semicon-ductor fabrication environments. The system works by comparing images of theproduct defect against hundreds of thousands of historical images that aremaintained in the plant’s data management system. DSI AIR uses a uniqueimage description of the defect and background region to describe, index andrapidly retrieve information from the database. —Jodi Lockaby