Secretary of Energy stops by the OLCF
NCCS Director Jim Hack briefs Energy Secretary Moniz in EVEREST, the OLCF’s scientific visualization facility.
The OLCF was high on Energy Secretary Moniz’s agenda when he visited ORNL. He stopped by the EVEREST visualization lab to be briefed on the work being done in high-performance computing.
The newly confirmed secretary of energy stopped by ORNL on June 3. During Moniz’s stop at the newly renovated EVEREST, he viewed presentations on nuclear science and forensics as well as bioenergy and carbon fiber. National Center for Computational Sciences Director Jim Hack and Jeff Nichols, ORNL’s associate lab director for computing and computational sciences, then updated Moniz on the Climate Change Science Institute and the OLCF’s work.
Of the visit Hack said: “We were pleased to have the opportunity to brief and engage Secretary Moniz on a number of ORNL’s diversified science and technology activities, particularly those forward looking investments in tackling the many energy challenges facing the nation.”
While at ORNL, Moniz also stopped by the Consortium for the Advanced Simulation of Light-Water Reactors (CASL) and the Spallation Neutron Source. He gave presentations and listened to talks from several ORNL staff members.
Moniz was confirmed as energy secretary by a unanimous vote in the Senate on May 16. The June 3 visit to ORNL was his first stop in his new role. He took the opportunity to speak about the country’s energy future, which he sees as including an emphasis on energy efficiency, small modular nuclear reactors, and continued use of coal with a focus on carbon capture and sequestration.—by Leah Moore
