[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 29 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1378-S1379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 RECOGNIZING IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

  Mr. RISCH. Madam President, along with my colleagues Senator Mike 
Crapo and Representative Mike Simpson, I recognize an important 
anniversary being celebrated at the U.S. Department of Energy's, DOE, 
890-square-mile site in eastern Idaho.
  On February 18, 1949, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission decided to 
build the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho.
  For 70 years, work done by the scientists, engineers, technicians, 
and support staff at Idaho's lab has helped

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promote American prosperity and contributed to our national security.
  Since 1967, research conducted at Idaho National Laboratory's, INL, 
Advanced Test Reactor has powered and modernized the U.S. Nuclear Navy.
  Fifty years ago, the Navy had to refuel its nuclear fleet frequently, 
an expensive and time-consuming process.
  Today, as a result of experiments conducted at the Advanced Test 
Reactor, ATR, the Navy's nuclear fleet can run the lifetime of the 
ship--more than three decades--without refueling. That saves American 
taxpayers millions of dollars and ensures that our fleet is actively 
defending U.S. national security instead of sitting in port waiting to 
be refueled.
  Roughly a decade and a half ago, Congress designated INL as the 
Nation's lead nuclear energy research and development laboratory. This 
is fitting because on December 20, 1951, INL first demonstrated nuclear 
fission could be used to generate power to light our homes and cities. 
Throughout its history, INL has built and operated 52 original nuclear 
reactors and helped establish an American industry that today produces 
approximately 19 percent of our Nation's electricity and more than half 
of our carbon-free electricity. INL has become a world leader in cyber 
security research and works actively with government and industry to 
protect and make the Nation's most critical infrastructure more 
resilient. INL has advanced broader clean energy research, informing 
electric vehicle deployment and developing bioenergy solutions that 
benefit the environment and our Nation's farmers. Even as we celebrate 
INL's 70 years, the lab's leadership and staff are looking ahead. Those 
seven decades of service provide a foundation upon which today's INL 
will help this Nation build a brighter future. INL leads the effort to 
maintain and extend the lives of America's nuclear reactor fleet, while 
helping industry develop advanced reactor designs, including small 
modular reactors and microreactors. INL's vital national and homeland 
security work grows more important every day as our systems become 
increasingly automated and interdependent.
  As we eye the energy systems that will power U.S. prosperity into the 
future, INL's clean energy research is developing breakthroughs that 
will help integrate renewables into the power grid and allow our 
manufacturing and transportation systems to operate more efficiently 
and with less environmental impact.
  It is our great honor to congratulate INL and DOE on this important 
anniversary, and to wish its employees well as they work to resolve our 
nation's pressing clean energy and national security challenges.

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