Complete Guide to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) - History from Atomic Reactors to Nuclear Waste Cleanup, Rickover and the Nuclear Navy, SL-1 Fatal Reactor Accident, Uranium and Plutonium

Two comprehensive histories of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) provide extensive information about the lab's role in the development of nuclear reactors and other technologies, covering the period from before its establishment in 1949 through 2010. Originally created as the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS), the laboratory has evolved over the years and acquired a number of slightly different names, including the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The history of dozens of important atomic reactors is outlined in these reports. There also is coverage of the famous SL-1 reactor accident.

Contents: Proving the Principle * 1 Aviator's Cave * 2 The Naval Proving Ground * 3 The Uranium Trail Leads To Idaho * 4 The Party Plan * 5 Inventing The Testing Station * 6 Fast Flux, High Flux And Rickover's Flux * 7 Safety Inside And Outside The Fences * 8 The Reactor Zoo Goes Critical * 9 Hot Stuff * 10 Cores And Competencies * 11 The Chem Plant * 12 Reactors Beget Reactors * 13 The Triumph Of Political Gravity Over Nuclear Flight * 14 Imagining The Worst * 15 The SL-1 Reactor * 16 The Aftermath * 17 Science In The Desert * 18 The Shaw Effect * 19 And The Idaho Boost * 20 A Question Of Mission * 21 By The End Of This Decade * 22 Jumping The Fence * 23 The Endowment Of Uranium * 24 The Uranium Trail Fades * 25 Mission: Future * Transformed: A Recent History of the Idaho National Laboratory, 2000-2010

Transformed: A Recent History of the Idaho National Laboratory, 2000-2010 * 1 INTRODUCTION: FORGING OPPORTUNITIES FROM ADVERSITY * 2 WE HAVE A DEAL 1995-2000 * BLUEPRINT FOR CLEANUP * ADDING AN "E": THE NATION'S ENGINEERING & ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY * HARD LESSONS LEARNED * GOING FORWARD * 3 CLEAN IT UP, CLOSE IT DOWN 2000-2003 * MAKE NO MISTAKE; CHANGE IS COMING * INSIDE THE LABORATORY * BREAKTHROUGH * JUMPSTARTING THE SITE'S TRANSFORMATION * 4 BRINGING CREATIVITY TO THE TABLE * DIVISION AND UNIFICATION * WORKING THE 60/40 RATIO * RETURN TO NUCLEAR ENERGY RESEARCH * ADVANCED TEST REACTOR * CENTER FOR ADVANCED ENERGY STUDIES * "WORK FOR OTHERS" AND NON-DOE WORK * NASA PROGRAM * SPECIFIC MANUFACTURING CAPABILITY PROJECT (SMC) AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROGRAMS. * SUMMARY * 5 BALANCING THE MACHINE WITH THE GARDEN * IDAHO CLEANUP PROJECT * FORGING COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS * ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP * 6 FUTURE VISION

During the first decade of this century, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) got a new name, a new structure, and a newly-revitalized mission as the nation's lead nuclear energy research laboratory. For a laboratory that began the decade in search of a well-defined mission and being offered up for cleanup and closure, the 2000s saw a dramatic turnaround. As the last century ended, Idaho's national laboratory was still known as the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), the last "e" in the acronym symbolizing the fact that the majority of the lab's budget came from the Department of Energy's Environmental Management program. As the new century progressed, however, the department merged INEEL and Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) into one unified "INL." The result was a nearly billion dollar a year entity that led the newly-revitalized interest in nuclear power, in a country trying to cope with the specter of global warming and rising carbon emissions. To accommodate this growing mission and revitalize a laboratory that had not seen much in the way of new infrastructure over the past 20 years or so, the Department of Energy and Congress invested over $900 million in the lab through the Idaho Facilities Management Fund. That money was spent upgrading the infrastructure at the Advanced Test Reactor Complex and the Materials and Fuels Complex at the desert site, and at the Research and Education Campus in Idaho Falls - the three areas where the INL's primary nuclear energy research mission is carried out.