THE INL

The INL is a nuclear energy research and environmental management facility, owned and administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID).  It occupies about 2,300 km² (890 mi²) of the upper Snake River Plain in Southeastern Idaho.  The history of the INL began during World War II when the U.S. Naval Ordnance Station was located in Pocatello, Idaho. This station, one of two such installations in the U.S., retooled large guns from U.S. Navy ships. The facility tested the retooled guns on the nearby-uninhabited plain, known as the Naval Proving Ground.  In the aftermath of the war, as the nation worked to develop nuclear power, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), predecessor to the DOE, became interested in the Naval Proving Ground and developed plans for a facility to build, test, and perfect nuclear power reactors.

The Naval Proving Ground became the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in 1949, under the AEC.  By the end of 1951, a reactor at the NRTS became the first to produce useful electricity. The facility evolved into an assembly of 52 reactors, associated research centers, and waste handling areas. The NRTS was renamed the Idaho National Laboratory in 1974 and Idaho National Laboratory in January 1997. Activities at the INL center on environmental cleanup and research and development.

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