Idaho National Laboratory

About INL

The Idaho National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory located in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The laboratory's primary research field is nuclear energy.

Research Programs

The INL research programs focus on creating a "technically achievable, economically competitive and environmentally sustainable nuclear energy option for the nation that is worthy of public confidence and trust."

There are six attributes to the INL vision:

• World-leading nuclear science and technology programs;
• National/Homeland Security, Energy and Environmental programs that leverage our nuclear capabilities;
• A robust science base;
• Extensive collaborations with the world's premier academic, government and industrial nuclear S&T organizations; and
• Forefront research facilities, support infrastructure and management systems.

Advanced Fuel Cycle Program

The program is focused on reducing the amount of nuclear waste by developing new technologies that can safely and effectively seperate useful components from wasteful components of discharged nuclear fuel.

Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems

INL is the nation's lead laboratory for nuclear research and development.

Advanced Process and Decision Systems, Gasification, Liquefied Natural Gas, Oil Shale

The program is involved in evaluating in evaluating fossil fuel alternatives, such as "liquefied natural gas, coal and oil shale gasification, tar and oil sands gasification, and coal-bed and coal mine methane recovery.

Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity

In partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, INL is engaged in advanced vehicle testing to test:

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technologies

Hybrid electric, pure electric, and hydraulic technologies

Advanced electric drive technologies and engine technologies

Advanced energy storage (i.e., batteries) technologies and chemistries

Advanced climate control, power electronic, and other ancillary systems technologies

Internal combustion engines burning advanced fuels (i.e., 100% hydrogen and hydrogen/CNG-blended fuels)

Agricultural Residues

The goals of this program are to "define the physical changes in feedstocks that damage their quality and potential use, and, further, to investigate maintaining, upgrading, or enhancing feedstock shelf life to increase its throughput capacity, operational efficiency, and quality of the interim biomass product."

Analytical Chemistry, Catalysis, Interfacial Chemistry, Mass Spectrometry, Polymers

The goal of this program is to "develop new analytical methods that advance the science of surface chemistry and contribute to the development of novel synthetic materials."

Autonomous Operation and Control Architecture, Robotics and Intelligent Systems

A robotics program interested in developing "robotic systems that can adjust their level of autonomy on the fly, leveraging their own intrinsic intelligence to meet whatever level of control is handed down from the user."

Batteries, 'FreedomCar', Energy Storage and Transportation, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Vehicle Performance Testing

The program goal is to develop "the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicle batteries and other technologies."

Biocorrosion, Fracture Mechanics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Materials Characterization, Performance and Properties

The program goal is to develop "new characterization techniques for metals, ceramics and composite materials."

Bioenergy

The program is focused on "researching, characterizing, modeling, demonstrating, and harnessing the physical and chemical characteristics of the nation’s diverse agricultural residues to more cost-effectively produce biofuels and other value-added products."

Biofuels and Renewable Energy

The program goal is "to advance alternative energy sources that have a smaller carbon footprint."

Hydropower

The mission of the Hydropower Program is to conduct R&D efforts that will improve the benefits of hydropower and provide cost-competitive technologies that enable the development of new and incremental hydropower capacity."

Biological Systems, Biotechnology, Extremophile Research, Microbiology

The program is interested in "microbial research and development for white biotechnology, molecular forensic techniques, and environmental stewardship."

Biomass

The goal of this program is to "overcome key technical barriers facing the U.S. bioenergy industry."

Cellulosic Feedstock

The goal is to establish "the requirements for feedstock assembly processes to feed bioconversion processes."

Center for Advanced Energy Studies

The focus of the CAES is to "create new research capabilities, expand researcher-to-researcher collaborations, and enhance energy-related educational opportunities." The Center represents a partnership between three Idaho public universities (Boise State University, Idaho State University, and the University of Idaho), private industry, and the Idaho National Laboratory.

Center for Advanced Modeling and Simulation

The goal of this program is to "enable advanced modeling and simulation at INL by performing applied and basic research in computational science and engineering, and by providing capabilities, leadership and expertise in high-performance computing."

Chemical and Radiation Measurement

This program measures "chemical composition and radiation emitted by substances and materials."

Critical Infrastructure Protection

The program focuses on the protection of "our nation's intricate system of critical infrastructure networks."

Defense Systems

The program focus is "safeguarding our soldiers involved in global conflicts."

Energy Efficiency and Industrial Technology

The research conducted in this area focuses on materials processing and intelligent systems.

Energy Resources Recovery

This department focus is to evaluate and pursue "new opportunities in energy recovery methods, and monitors the potential environmental impacts of those methods."

Fusion Safety

The fusion program "engages in designing and analyzing advanced nuclear reactor systems for a wide variety of applications."

Generation IV Systems

The program's focus is to "advance commercial nuclear reactor designs beyond the current generation that is being deployed around the world."

Geothermal Energy

The program's mission is to "establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply." The program is focused on "investigating and developing geothermal resource technologies for both direct use and electricity generation, particularly those resources considered marginally economical."

High Performance Computing

The HPC center focuses on "a wide range of research activities, including performance of materials in harsh environments (including the effects of irradiation and high temperatures), modeling of geomechanical changes in subsurface flow, performance of advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactors, and multiscale analysis of nuclear fuel performance."

Light Water Reactor Sustainability

This program is a research and development program designed "to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe and economical operation of current nuclear power plants."

Nuclear Hydrogen

This program focuses on advancing the use of hydrogen in energy production for synthetic fuels, fuel cells, and military applications.

Nuclear Nonproliferation

This programs focus is to "develop technologies and systems to prevent the illicit production, acquisition, transport and use of harmful nuclear materials and technology."

Nuclear Safety, SAFHIRE 7

The program supports safety for complex engineered facilities and processes. The main focus is "nuclear engineering and regulatory analysis support for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)."

Reactor Physics

This program focuses on 3 key areas of research:

1. Computational and Experimental Reactor and Radiation Physics
2. Radiation Measurement Instrumentation Development and Applications
3. Nuclear Physics and Spectroscopy

Seismic Monitoring

This program analyzes earthquakes around INL to find "earthquake sources, regions of seismic activity, crustal structure, rock properties, energy dissipation (or attenuation) characteristics of the subsurface, and levels of ground shaking."

Space Nuclear

This program is designed to "lead, contribute to, and support development of nuclear reactor technologies required for multi-mission spacecraft and human exploration."

Systems Engineering

The systems engineering program is designed to consider "business and the technical needs of all customers with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user's needs on time and within established budgets."

Thermal Fluids

The thermal fluids program focus is "thermal hydraulic reactor safety code development and experimental heat transfer/thermal hydraulics."

Wind Energy

The program focus is to increase the amount of wind energy production in the U.S. to achieve "targeted regional economic development, enhance our power generation options, protect the local environment, and increase our energy and national security."

Projects

Next Generation Nuclear Plant

The Next Generation Nuclear Power Plant Project "engages the corporations you depend on for gasoline, plastics and fertilizer with a progressive approach to energy production."

Facilities

Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility

The Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility, in partnership with DOE and INL, is a facility offering information and programs to users and people interested in nuclear energy.

External Links

• INL Facebook page

• INL Flickr page

• INL Youtube Videos