Trending Topics
Carbon Free Power Project
The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) formally launched the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) in 2015 as part of its long-term strategy to reduce carbon emissions. The project calls for constructing a Small Modular Reactor (SMR) power plant on DOE’s 890-square-mile Idaho Site using an SMR technology being developed by NuScale Power.
Microreactors
INL is working with developers, private industry, regulators, universities and others to develop, demonstrate, test and validate this new generation of microreactors. As part of its research mission, INL is also helping develop new fuels for microreactor designs, many of which will use low-enriched uranium with higher concentrations of uranium-235 than the fuel used in today’s commercial power reactors.
5G Wireless Technology
For more than 20 years, INL has conducted research, testing and training on wireless technology and systems, including wireless radios, cellphones and satellite technology. We own, operate and manage a best-in-class external Wireless Test Bed that includes 2G, 3G and 4G technology, including fixed and mobile towers, relay stations, network and switch gear.
Advanced Small Modular Reactors
A small modular reactor (SMR) is a nuclear fission reactor that features factory-built-and-assembled modules in a variety of configurations and electricity outputs. About 1/10 to 1/4 the size of a traditional nuclear energy plant, SMRs feature compact, simplified designs with advanced safety features. Small modular reactors are envisioned to vary in size according to configuration.
Research Quantities of Commercial Nuclear Fuel
The state of Idaho and the U.S. Department of Energy have reached an agreement for allowing small quantities of spent commercial nuclear fuel to come to Idaho National Laboratory for research. These “research quantities” of irradiated fuel are miniscule compared to the inventory of spent fuel that has historically been stored on site.
HBO's Chernobyl Miniseries
As the nation’s lead nuclear energy research laboratory, INL has extensive experience developing, demonstrating and evaluating different reactor concepts; handling nuclear fuel and materials; conducting post-accident analyses; and keeping employees and the public safe from radiation exposure. We are compiling resources to help answer the public’s questions about Chernobyl, nuclear safety and radiation.
Three Mile Island
The line between fact and fiction is often blurred when historical events are dramatized. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the nation’s nuclear energy research laboratory, employs numerous experts with extensive knowledge of what happened, why and what the industry learned. In fact, the laboratory played a role in the analysis of what happened within the damaged reactor’s core.
