A family affair: Four generations of Corsbergs have found their passion at INL
For 75 years, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and its predecessors have drawn people from all over the world to the ever-growing community of southeastern Idaho. The laboratory has also brought opportunities to families already living within that community. For the Corsberg family, working at the INL complex throughout its many name changes, different contractors and […]
A cloverleaf of innovation: INL releases custom smart watch faces to commemorate 75 years of innovation
Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) stands as a lasting monument to an innovative idea born on a twilight ride home across the Snake River Plain. The word “cloverleaf” best describes ATR’s innovative core design. Early nuclear engineers built ATR to improve fuel performance in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear fleet. Fifty-seven years later, […]
From WWII bombers to desert drones: INL’s aviation history predates atomic energy
Matthew Balderree first encountered drones in 2004 as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Air Force working with an early warning and airspace management radar system in Iraq. For Balderree, that airspace included predator drones, unmanned aircrafts used in numerous military conflicts starting in 1995. In the Air Force, new technology wasn’t always user friendly, […]
Daughter of World War II airman killed in training accident visits Idaho crash site
In late June, Roberta Armstrong came as close as she would ever get to her father, Lt. Robert W. Madsen, a U.S. Army Air Corps member who died in a World War II training accident on the Idaho desert. Armstong’s mother didn’t even know she was pregnant in January 1944 when she learned her husband […]
Humble hero: The story of INL’s Medal of Honor recipient
There’s no way of knowing for sure, but there was probably no more reluctant a war hero than Sgt. David Bleak. A Medal of Honor recipient for heroism in the Korean War – his story of courage under fire is an incredible one – Bleak was much happier talking about farming, Western novels or his […]
Driving into the future: Four decades and counting of battery research
Known as the nation’s nuclear laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory is not as widely recognized for its leadership in battery research. Yet, INL experts have conducted energy storage systems research for four decades of the lab’s 75-year history, almost as long as the nation has invested in electric vehicle technologies. In 1976, Congress passed the Electric […]
Mary Dee Grimm looks back across 62 years at INL
It all began with a coat… Crazy as it might sound, Mary Dee Grimm’s lifelong appreciation for fashion was part of what attracted her to Idaho National Laboratory many years ago and kept her on board to become the longest serving employee in the lab’s history. In the mid-1950s, when she was still Mary Dee […]
Family connection: EBR-I visit leads to unexpected emotions for atomic pioneer’s grandson
History has a way of sneaking up on a person. In Cuyler Cameron’s case, it was in the summer of 2022, when he was on a road trip from Colorado to Oregon. Westbound on U.S. Highway 20, he saw the Idaho National Laboratory sign, which made him think immediately of his grandfather, Reid Anderson Cameron […]
Research across cultures: Relationships between INL and Japanese scientists throughout history
In her kitchen, Keiko “Kay” Rohrdanz pours tea into small mugs decorated with blue leaves. Her two Dobermans circle around her, eager for a taste of the cake she’s putting onto a plate. Her home is a mix of traditional Japanese and American décor, and she radiates hospitality as she sits down with me and […]
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 […]
