Idaho National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory

Motto	The energy of innovation
Established	1949
Research type	Nuclear energy, national security, energy, and environment
Budget	~ $1 billion (2010)
Director	Mark Peters
Staff	~ 4,000 (2016)
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	inl.gov

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is an 890-square-mile (2,310 km²) complex located in the high desert of eastern Idaho, between the town of Arco to the west and the cities of Idaho Falls and Blackfoot to the east. It lies within Butte, Bingham, Bonneville, and Jefferson counties. The lab currently employs approximately 4,000 people.

The federal research facility was established in 1949 as the "National Reactor Testing Station" (NRTS). In 1975, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was divided into the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Idaho site was for a short time named ERDA and then subsequently renamed to the "Idaho National Engineering Laboratory" (INEL) in 1977 with the creation of the Department of Energy (DOE) under President Carter. After two decades as INEL, the name was changed again to the "Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory" (INEEL) in 1997. Throughout its lifetime, there have been more than 50 one-of-a-kind nuclear reactors built by various organizations at the facility for testing; all but three are out of service.

On Feb. 1, 2005, Battelle Energy Alliance took over operation of the lab from Bechtel, merged with Argonne National Laboratory-West, and the facility name was changed to "Idaho National Laboratory" (INL). At this time the site's clean-up activities were moved to a separate contract, the Idaho Cleanup Project, which is currently managed by Fluor Idaho, LLC. Research activities were consolidated in the newly named Idaho National Laboratory.