Learn more about the ATR National Scientific User Facility.
Building upon its legacy responsibilities, infrastructure and expertise the INL’s nuclear energy mission is to develop advanced nuclear technologies that provide clean, abundant, affordable and reliable energy to the United States and the world. We support our government's role in leading the revitalization of the nation's nuclear power industry and re-establishing U.S. world leadership in nuclear science and technology.
Dennis Spurgeon, DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, testified at a hearing on the implementation of Next Generation Nuclear Plant provisions of Energy Policy Act 2005, at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting.
When sponsorship of the INL was formally transferred to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, specific roles and responsibilities were assigned to Idaho's national laboratory in the areas of Generation IV nuclear power systems, advanced fuel cycles and enabling technologies, systems and practices.
These new assignments came, in part, as acknowledgement of the INL’s unique status as the DOE site that designed and constructed 52 reactors since its establishment in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station. For many years, it was the site of the largest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world. Notable among these Idaho reactors were Experimental Breeder Reactor I, the first reactor to generate usable electricity from nuclear power, the U.S. Navy's first prototype nuclear propulsion plant and the world's most capable test reactor, the Advanced Test Reactor. more...
The INL has the history, infrastructure, expertise and commitment to collaborate broadly — characteristics required to fulfill our assigned role as the nation's center for nuclear energy research and development. We also have the expertise, infrastructure and strategic partnerships necessary to advance the state of the art in:
- Nuclear safety analysis
- Irradiation services
- Nuclear operations
- Management of spent nuclear fuel
- Biocorrosion of fuels
- General inquiries:
- Nuclear Communications