Lab, industry partnership leads to tech success
Twin Falls entrepreneur and inventor Mark Melni is on top of the world. The U.S. Department of Energy selected his small business, Melni Technologies, to receive funding to redesign and develop its medium-voltage power cable connector, which can make underground electrical repairs faster, safer and more reliable. Melni’s business was one of 12 companies nationwide […]
From copper wires to supercomputers
Telecommunications in eastern Idaho today are vastly different from how they were in 1949, the year the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) founded the National Reactor Testing Station, now Idaho National Laboratory. The days of copper wire, switchboard exchanges and phone numbers beginning with names (JAckson for Idaho Falls, SUnset for Blackfoot, SHerwood for Rigby) have […]
Externally Funded Internships: Sponsoring for tomorrow’s workforce
Idaho National Laboratory welcomes hundreds of college and graduate interns every year. In the competitive field of scientific research, externally funded internship programs have emerged as vital sources of funding support. One example is the Department of Energy Office of Science, which plays a key role in attracting college and graduate students to contribute to […]
Diverse collaborations expand employees’ professional development
For 75 years, Idaho National Laboratory has been at the forefront of nuclear energy and technology research. This research includes the nuclear fuel cycle, a multistep process that covers the entire life cycle of nuclear fuel, from mining uranium for use in a reactor to the safe management and disposal of spent, or used, fuel. […]
Idaho National Laboratory prepares to operate its first new reactors in 50 years
In 1951, the desert of eastern Idaho hosted Experimental Breeder Reactor-I, the first nuclear reactor to generate a usable amount of electricity. Four years later, researchers followed that success with BORAX-III, the first reactor to power an American city. The next two decades saw a flurry of research and development at that desert site — […]
An international resurgence of female representation in nuclear
Women played an instrumental role in shaping the field of nuclear science. Nobel Prize-winner Marie Curie was part of a team that discovered radioactivity. Katharine Way, a leading scientist on the Manhattan Project, analyzed and interpreted foundational nuclear data. Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu tested and disproved a widely accepted atomic science theory. Despite these historical contributions, […]
Alyssa Spence takes reins at the Advanced Test Reactor Critical Facility
Throughout its 75 years, Idaho National Laboratory’s ranks have been filled with multi-generational family members, many of them cases of the apple not falling far from the tree. For Rob and Alyssa Spence, however, the fact that both work at INL’s Advanced Test Reactor today is where the coincidence ends. When Alyssa was getting ready […]
Ice-ly done: Veterans charity, INL employees score big on Spud Kings Night
Maycee Radford had never been to an Idaho Falls Spud Kings hockey game. In fact, young Maycee had never been to a hockey game of any kind. Ever. So, when the 12-year-old Idaho Falls resident stood on the Mountain America Center blue line during INL’s Specialty Jersey Night on Feb. 9 with a black hockey […]
The original Site history: Stories from, relationships with the Shoshone-Bannock people
Editor’s note: This story is partially adapted from a Tribal historical write-up titled “The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.” One story about the land where the Idaho National Laboratory Site now sits begins with a muskrat. In the “Legend of Creation” held by the Bannock Tribe, the area used to be “nothing but water.” As the story goes, […]
Nuclear energy experts train researchers to meet future nonproliferation challenges
As nuclear energy is increasingly recognized as a vital component of the clean energy transition, American companies have answered the call with dozens of new reactor and fuel designs. But the nation’s nuclear energy industry is facing a decline in skilled workers to build and operate these technologies. Without action, the U.S. stands to lose […]
