Rigby students compete in ‘hopper challenge’
Two teams from Rigby High School competed March 29 in the first Pathways Student Challenge, sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Feedstock Conversion Interface Consortium and supported with grants from Battelle Energy Alliance. The student teams were given a budget of $2,000 to design and build machines that could continuously grind biomass feedstocks like wood […]
Seaborg Institute: Highlighting our postdoc talents
Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) was an influential American chemist most renowned for discovering plutonium in 1940. He also helped produce and isolate several additional synthetic transuranium elements and defined the actinide series. Seaborg received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951, had an element named after him (Seaborgium), and chaired the Atomic Energy Commission. Importantly, […]
From Florida floods to Idaho desert: Understanding impacts of flood damage on vehicle batteries
Out on the Idaho National Laboratory desert Site sits an electric vehicle (EV) enthusiast’s dream: nine high-performance, battery-powered cars including four Tesla models (S, 3, X and Y); a Porsche Taycan and a Lucid Air. Each car boasts some of the most advanced EV technology available, allowing drivers to accelerate from zero to 60 mph […]
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 […]
