Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory

Motto	The energy of innovation
Established	1949
Research type	nuclear energy, national security, energy, and environment
Budget	approx. $1 billion (2010)
Director	John Wagner
Staff	approx. 5,700 (2023)
Location	Idaho Falls, Idaho, U.S. & a large area to the west
Campus	890 sq mi (2,310 km2)
Operating agency	Battelle Energy Alliance
Website	www.inl.gov
Former Names: INEEL, INEL, ERDA, NRTS

INL

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Location in the United States

INL

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Location in Idaho, west of Idaho Falls

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically, the lab has been involved with nuclear research, although the laboratory does other research as well. Much of current knowledge about how nuclear reactors behave and misbehave was discovered at what is now Idaho National Laboratory. John Grossenbacher, former INL director, said, "The history of nuclear energy for peaceful application has principally been written in Idaho".^[1]

Various organizations have built more than 50 reactors at what is commonly called "the Site", including the ones that gave the world its first usable amount of electricity from nuclear power and the power plant for the world's first nuclear submarine. Although many are now decommissioned, these facilities are the largest concentration of reactors in the world.^[2]

It is on a 890-square-mile (2,310 km²) complex in the high desert of eastern Idaho, between Arco to the west and Idaho Falls and Blackfoot to the east. Atomic City, Idaho is just south. The laboratory employs approximately 5,700 people.^[3]