[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S1429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE IDAHO NATIONAL LAB

  MR. CRAPO. Mr. President, today I wish to acknowledge a milestone of 
singular significance for Idaho and for the Nation. This month marks 
the 60th anniversary of the Idaho National Laboratory.
  In February 1949, the Federal Government settled on a site in east 
central Idaho to host the National Reactor Testing Station--a place 
where scientists and engineers could come together to develop and test 
new ways to put the power of the atom to productive use for society. In 
short order, Experimental Breeder Reactor-I was designed, built and 
operating--producing the world's first usable amount of electricity 
from nuclear power and later, proving that reactors could produce, or 
breed, more fuel than they consume.
  Breakthrough after breakthrough followed in the ensuing years, 
including significant contributions to national security with the 
development of the nuclear propulsion systems for U.S. Navy submarines 
and aircraft carriers. The Idaho testing station was the genesis of 
American civilian nuclear power, responsible for powering an American 
city for the first time with nuclear-generated electricity, as well as 
the design and construction of 52 pioneering nuclear reactors. The 
Idaho testing station was responsible for the development of world 
leading reactor safety codes and the operation of the Nation's premier 
materials testing device--the Advanced Test Reactor.
  Building on its unsurpassed nuclear energy expertise and in 
recognition of its broader capabilities and unique assets, our Idaho 
``testing station'' was formally designated a national laboratory in 
1974. And the pace of innovation has only accelerated since. The lab's 
researchers have received dozens of R&D 100, Bright Light, Federal 
Laboratory Consortium and related awards for the development of 
technologies as diverse as concealed weapons detection systems and 
novel electrolyte batteries. The lab's central location within the 
Western Inland Energy Corridor--a band stretching from western Canada 
down through our nation's Intermountain and Rocky Mountain West--place 
it in a remarkable position to identify, assess and integrate the 
corridor's unmatched wind, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, 
conventional and unconventional fossil and uranium resources.
  At 60, the Idaho National Lab's relevance to the Nation could not be 
greater. Its mission to ``Ensure the nation's energy security with 
safe, competitive, and sustainable energy systems and unique national 
and homeland security capabilities,'' represents a pledge to serve by 
each of the lab's nearly 4,000 employees, as well as the management 
team and partners from institutions of higher education in Idaho and 
nationwide.
  I congratulate the employees, management team and community partners 
of the Idaho National Lab on the occasion of its 60th anniversary and 
look forward to many more years of success, built on this matchless 
legacy of science and engineering innovation.

                          ____________________