US Secretary of Energy Discusses the Future of Energy at Argonne

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and local members of Congress visited the Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont on Monday to mark the completion of a new facility that will allow a closer look at clean energy sources such as batteries. electric vehicles and nuclear energy materials.

“I am very honored to be here and to be here representing an administration that believes very much in science,” Granholm said during his visit.

The new building is part of an $815 million upgrade to the lab’s massive X-ray light source, called the Advanced Photon Source, which uses energy stored in a ring big enough to fit around Wrigley Field and act like a giant microscope.

It is a user-operated facility, which means that more than 5,000 scientists around the world use X-rays each year to look inside materials at the molecular and atomic levels. In one example, scientists use technology to look at viruses: including COVID-19 — to understand its molecular structure and develop vaccines.

“The fact that 5,000 scientists are coming here to try to solve those problems is a gift to Illinois, it’s a gift to America, it’s a small gift to the planet,” Granholm said.

Once complete, the upgrade will result in beams that are 500 times brighter than the current machine, allowing scientists to take an even closer look at materials and processes. The new structure held this Monday will house two new X-ray beam lines, as well as an advanced laboratory for activated materials.

“Both beamlines will help us maintain America’s scientific leadership in many fields of research and help solve some of the world’s most pressing scientific challenges,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. “The Activated Materials Laboratory will greatly enhance our ability to understand how radiation affects the structure of materials, such as materials to enhance the performance of the next generation of nuclear power plants.”

While X-rays are used to look at everything from infrastructure materials to new pharmaceuticals and mouse brainsA major emphasis in the world of weather is creating batteries that last longer, charge faster and hold more power.

Granholm added Monday that tools like the advanced photon source are key to building ways to “repair our planet,” such as creating better batteries for electric vehicles, identifying more durable and efficient materials for solar panels, and finding storage capacity that can make solar energy more efficient. easily manageable.

“At the Department of Energy, we’re really obsessed with how to get to net zero by 2050 and how to get to 100% clean electricity by 2035,” Granholm said. “All you have to do is open the newspapers today and watch thousands of people across the planet die from these extreme weather events that we continue to see. They are accelerating and getting more intense. If we don’t speed ourselves up …the mission to figure out ways to get to net zero and 100% clean electricity, so let’s fry.”

US Rep. Bill Foster, a Democrat from Naperville who represents Illinois’ 11th District, visited Argonne on Monday along with US Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago. Foster, who is a member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and is the only Ph.D. physicist on Congress, said that in the long run, the fundamental research being done at Argonne will have lasting benefits well into the future.

“The most important thing that is done in labs like this is long-term research that makes things possible not five years from now, but 20 years from now,” he said.

Foster added that the research being done at Argonne to continually test samples from nuclear reactors is particularly important in Illinois, where we rely on nuclear power for most of our electricity.

“When we try to extend the life of these nuclear plants that we depend on, one of the key issues is materials,” Foster said. “That ability to really see the details of what it means to be safe is crucial to the future of nuclear power.”

• Jenny Whidden is a Report For America staff member who covers climate change and the environment for the Daily Herald. To help support their work with a tax-deductible donation, see https://www.reportforamerica.org/newsrooms/daily-herald-4/