Inside The Innovations

Robert Sangrey

Robert Sangrey

Master Technician with Target Development Systems

Spallation Neutron Source

Robert Sangrey is the Master Technician with Target Development Systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). When he isn’t crafting excellent equipment for ORNL, he enjoys fishing for trout with his family on Norris Lake. Robert has worked at the lab for 16 years.

I was here when we started up the target facility, all through the initial construction and into actually running the targets during day-to-day operations. Now I get to test even better targets for our particle accelerator, so that we can increase the number of neutrons we produce per pulse. We examine the metallic properties of target prototypes to see how the machine copes with stress, and we try to make them more durable.”

“What I like most about this job is that it’s always changing. You get to see something you’ve worked on for a long time succeed. It’s an evolutionary process, and it’s nice to see the target improve over time. You can actually see things change and grow as the program develops, and the science involved is fascinating.”

–Robert Sangrey