CHAPTER 20
INEL History
by Ben J. Plastino for Bonneville Historical Society

The National Reactor Testing Station since it was established officially April 4, 1949--renamed the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory August 14, 1974--wrote its history in the nuclear and scientific field of unsurpassed achievement.

The first reactor was Experimental Breeder Reactor-I which chalked up one of the most historic achievements of the century in producing the first use of nuclear fission electricity December 20, 1951. It also demonstrated the principle of breeding, producing more fuel than it consumes, in June, 1953, and later underwent tests for the first use of plutonium and proving that consequences of a core meltdown were not necessarily catastrophic.

The Materials Testing Reactor was the second built and went into operation March 21, 1952. Of notable achievement it produced the most intense neutron flux.

Boiling Water Reactors Experiments, constructed in 1952, was the first of five reactors to pioneer intensive work of boiling water reactors.

Special Power Excursion Reactor Test concentrated on so-called "runaway" accidents, a situation where excessive nuclear fission occurs in the core. Four other SPERT reactors were operated through 1970. They showed that "runaway" accidents are less likely to happen than once thought, and that they can be predicted and modeled.

Engineering Test Reactor achieved nuclear startup in 1957 and was the most advanced materials test reactor in the world with a power level of 175 megawatts. It provided irradiation facilities for development of reactor components for military and civilian reactors. It went into retirement in 1982, the first completed reactor facility to be deactivated.

The nuclear Navy at the site was inaugurated March 31, 1953, with the initial power run of the Submarine Thermal Reactor, a land-based prototype of the nuclear engine for the nation's first atomic-powered submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus.

Powered by STR Mark II, the U.S.S. Nautilus traveled in excess of 25,000 miles, most of the time submerged. The submarine also cruised under water at an average speed of about 16 knots. September 12, 1965, the Navy's newest submarine prototype reactor, the S5G, became operational. The S5G has improved safety and reliability over old seacraft and is installed in a real submarine hull that can simulate actual conditions at sea.

The Naval Reactors Facility is one of the oldest areas on the INEL with more than 35 consecutive years of operation. It is operated for the Navy by the U.S. Department of Energy. Over the years, thousands of naval officers and enlisted personnel have received Navy training in Idaho's desert, at the rate of 5,000 a year.

Work began on the fist prototype power plant for a nuclear airplane in the 1950s--the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) project. The ANP project was commissioned to develop a nuclear reactor aircraft engine capable of powering an airplane for extremely long periods.

The program involved building and testing three heat transfer reactor experiments which proved the feasibility of operating an aircraft turbojet engine with nuclear heat. Three low-power reactors also were operated to support the ANP program: The Shield Test Pool Facility Reactor, the Critical Experiment Tank, and the Hot Critical Experiment. These reactors served to test materials, components, and reactor designs.

The ANP project was canceled by presidential order on March 28, 1961, long before the developmental engines were sufficiently refined to install on actual aircraft. Work on the project did leave researchers with a knowledge about high temperature reactor materials technology, however, which has been used in the design of all reactors built since then.

Work in the Army Reactor Experimental Area on the site in 1957 was aimed at developing a family of small reactors that could meet a number of military requirements, including being compact, lightweight, and mobile.

The stationary Gas Cooled Reactor Experiment was the initial stage in developing nuclear power plants that could be moved without disassembly. An offspring, the Mobile Low Power Reactor Plant No. 1, was designed to be carried by a single airplane, truck-trailer, or ship for operation in remote areas. Both the ANP project and the Army's mobile reactor experiments provided technology that is still being used today.

What was to become the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) is traced to as early as January 1, 1947, when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was formed as the civilian nuclear agency. It replaced the military branches which had developed the atomic bomb.

It took over from the Manhattan Engineer District the massive research and production facilities built during World War II to develop the atomic bomb in utmost secrecy under the direction of General Leslie R. Groves and the Army Corps of Engineers. The laboratory experiments of Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born scientist, and other American and European scientists had been transformed into operating plants for producing the bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945, and three days later on Nagasaki.

President Harry S. Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 on August 1, 1946, to shift control of atomic energy to civilian administration, becoming effective at midnight December 31 of that year.

Truman appointed David E. Lilienthal, a lawyer and former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, as the first commission chairman.

One of the first steps was to transfer a sprawling complex of men and equipment from Army to AEC control. This included 37 installations in 19 states and Canada. It involved the shifting of 254 military officers, 1,688 enlisted men, 3,950 government workers and about 37,000 contractor employees. The entire project, representing a wartime investment of more than $2.2 billion, would cost an additional $300 million during the current fiscal year.

An official history of the AEC listed March 1, 1949, as the date of the first announcement by AEC of selection of the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in Idaho. But if that were the case there was an unexplained delay because the announcement was not received for nationwide publication until three weeks later, March 23.

Originally some 70 sites throughout the nation had been surveyed and studied but the final selection was trimmed to Fort Peck, Montana; and the Lost River Desert of east Idaho.

To help in the final choice between Idaho and Montana, Roger Warner, AEC director of Engineering, hired the architectural and engineering firm of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, of Detroit, Michigan, to make a survey. This firm in February, 1949, issued an opinion favoring the so-called "Pocatello site", and said a formal report containing more data would follow.

The Idaho location was originally identified by the Detroit firm as the "Pocatello site," mainly because it was the largest city then near the area. Locally it became more familiarly known as the Lost River site for the name applied to the vast sagebrush desert with a river and adjoining range of the same name. Others called it the "Arco desert" after the name of the town closest to the installation.

The AEC, in March 1949, issued a press release formally picking the Idaho site, and followed on April 4 with the announcement that Leonard E. Johnston, manager of the Schenectady, New York office would be the new Idaho AEC manager.

The Post-Register announced May 5 that Johnston would soon establish his headquarters at the Rogers Hotel.

The AEC also announced it had to acquire about 400,000 acres, of which nearly half, or 173,000 acres, were still held by the Navy for its gunnery range.

After Johnston had set up his office at the Rogers Hotel in June 1949, he immediately swung into action, He authorized drilling wells and started work on access roads. He hired a local firm to start digging foundations in November 1949.

Activities were many in 1949:

On April 4, the Idaho Office of the Atomic Energy Commission was formed to assist in the acquisition of a site for a reactor testing station and, by contract or direction, AEC operation to provide for the design and construction and operation of reactors, facilities and services as needed. It was also authorized to manage the NRTS and in this connection administer contracts for development and operation of reactors assigned by the director of reactor development and such other facilities as needed.

May 14, the first contract award went to A.J. Schoonover and Sons, Burley, for drilling of the first EBR 1 well.

On June 15, the Idaho Operations Office was officially established in Idaho Falls with the first cadre of about a dozen administrative and security personnel temporarily occupying the second floor of the City Building, for a couple of months.

July 15, the Hotel Rogers Annex was occupied by Idaho AEC staff.

Other steps included August 1, staff re-established temporary headquarters in the new annex of Rogers Hotel; August 12, first water produced from EBR 1; October 24, additional offices rented and occupied at the Jennie Rogers Building; November 2, first excavation for EBR 1, and first reactor complex started at the NRS, and January 31, 1950, first concrete poured for EBR 1.

On December 20, 1951, EBR-1 produced electricity by nuclear fission.

When the AEC announced that Idaho Falls would become the headquarters city it brought a euphoria of jubilation to the vast majority of local residents.

The Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce had taken the lead with each past and current president, and other prominent individuals and businesses, contributing about $100 each in behalf of the enterprise. The Chamber chipped in another $1,200 in matching funds, bringing the total to about $2,400 raised in this fashion.

Most city, INEL, state and other leaders shake their heads in disbelief when they look back and realize what a comparatively small amount was spent to bring the mammoth installation and headquarters to Idaho Falls.

The leaders in the movement were William S. Holden, pioneer attorney, who led delegations to Washington to speak to AEC officials; E.F. McDermott, pioneer publisher of the Post-Register; Joe Call, Chamber president; and Mayor Tom Sutton, but there were many others.

An editorial written by McDermott a day after the announcement pointed out correctly the city was on the "threshold of a great opportunity," but added, "we must provide the leadership that will carry east Idaho and Idaho Falls to its destined place in the economic sun...there is little doubt that the huge installation will be the forerunner of the greatest development Idaho has yet seen. It will bring thousands of people within the borders of the state, and may set the stage for a great industrial upsurge."

Holden, 1942 chamber president, was picked by the community in early 1949, to head the effort to persuade federal leaders to choose Idaho for its proposed national reactor testing station and Idaho Falls for headquarters.

In reminiscences shortly before his death, May 20, 1988, he recalled key battles that were fought in the U.S. Senate to designate Idaho over Montana as the nuclear research site. Then came fierce struggles against Pocatello, Blackfoot, and Arco.

Pocatello was the chief contender to Idaho Falls, mainly because it had the U.S. Naval Ordinance Plant which relined battleship guns.

Mrs. Holden recalled that in April, 1949, she was asked by her husband, who was en route home from Washington, to set up a social at their colonial-style home at 291 S. Ridge Avenue. It was to entertain a half dozen AEC executives who were accompanying him from the nation's capital.

The April 24 edition carried a picture and story of Johnston and his party greeted in Idaho Falls with a 21 gun salute.

Most of the front page on May 18 was devoted to the atomic project when it was announced by the AEC that Idaho Falls would be the headquarters city. A jubilant Sutton, Holden and McDermott were pictured clasping hands in joy over the selection.

Johnston announced the selection was made on basis of proximity, combined with availability of housing, educational and hospital facilities for AEC personnel. Other stories gave selection sidelights and told of accelerated plans for completing the road from Idaho Falls to the site.

The May 19 edition carried a front page editorial by McDermott stressing the city's responsibilities and the need to cope with new growth.

A story from Georgi, chief of security division, asked for 100 applications from war veterans for security guards.

Other stories appearing included: May 20 of plans to locate the new headquarters at the Rogers Hotel Annex; June 1, formation of a Greater Idaho Falls corporation to bring early construction of 50 new rental units and a prediction by Johnston while in the city that the reactor project would have a working family of 200 by the end of the year.

Other stories followed in rapid order. On March 24 there was a report of a mass meeting the preceding night in which leaders stressed the need to plan a paved road from Idaho Falls to the Arco desert and to promote the Idaho Falls community in development of the new atomic plant.

Call announced the Chamber's board of directors had approved a special atomic committee made up of Ralph Albaugh, K.D. Rose, McDermott, Don Kugler, Worth D. Wright, J. Earl Evans, David M. Sweeney, Forde L. Johnson, William E. Holden, Delbert V. Groberg, Ken P. Slusser, B.L. Harris, George W. Watkins, Sterling W. Jensen, Aden Hyde and Call.

Later named as chairman was McDermott, with Rose, president of Rogers Brothers Seed Co., as treasurer; and Cy David, Chamber secretary-manager as secretary.

A story on March 29 said an executive committee made up of McDermott, Rose, Harris, Holden, Johnson and Slusser would spearhead the activities for the city's cooperation with the atomic site. The committee would meet weekly.

Another story said the Bonneville county leaders headed by Chairman Chet G. Taylor, Thomas Weeks and J.W. Kintner of the county commission would heartily back proposals for the road, known commonly then as the Twin Buttes Road.

On April 1 appeared a story of the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce naming six special committees to help planning for coming of the reactor project.

The 11,000 employed at the INEL in 1990 represents about 2.5 percent of Idaho's 406,000 workers. About 350 are employed by DOE- ID.

About 8,000 workers staff the nine operating areas on the INEL site. Some administrative, scientific support, and non-nuclear laboratory programs are housed in Idaho Falls in seven buildings, the DOE-ID headquarters, Willow Creek Building, two Technical Support buildings, Remote Office Building, Computer Science Center and INEL Research Center.

The INEL work force comprises the largest concentration of technical professionals in the northern Rocky Mountain Region with more than 1,300 holding engineering degrees, 600 science degrees and more than one employee in three has a college degree.

The INEL payroll has surpassed $400 million, and directly and indirectly, INEL has generated more than $800 million in wages and salaries.

A summary of an Idaho State University report on the socio- economic impacts for the INEL reveals significant figures. It shows that the estimated impact of 10,702 jobs at INEL in 1987 is the provision of 18,351 total jobs and a population supported by the INEL of over 55,100 in the impact area.

The INEL primary and secondary employment accounts for 20.9 percent of total employment in the area.

INEL primary employee households paid an estimated $2.9 million taxes of $76,647,063 collected statewide. The total average tax burden for an INEL employee was $2,435, compared with $1,618 for the remainder of the state.

Since 1949 the INEL has grown to be a major contributor to Idaho's economy. At present, nearly 25,000 Idaho workers are supported by INEL activities. Each year, the INEL brings $320,000,000 into Idaho.

Nearly 40 percent of the workers at the INEL were born in Idaho and over half of the remaining workers have lived here for more than five years. Seven of every ten INEL employees own property locally.

When the AEC first established its Idaho installation in May, 1949, Dr. C.A. Robbins was the governor and he especially went out of his way to help get federal and state funding to build what is now known as Highway 20 between Idaho Falls and the Central Facilities.

Other succeeding governors also have lent strong support. These included Len B. Jordan who followed Robbins in January, 1951, and served through 1954; Robert E. Smylie, 1955-66; Don Samuelson, 1967-70; Cecil D. Andrus, 1971-76; John V. Evans, 1977-86; and Andrus again beginning in January, 1987 to present.

All of the City of Idaho Falls mayors and city councilmen have been among the foremost supporters for the site.

These included Mayor Tom Sutton who made trips with other city leaders in behalf of NRTS in 1949, followed by Mayors E.W. Fanning 1951-56; John B. Roger, 1957-58, W. J. O'Bryant, 1959-63; S. Eddie Pedersen, 1964-76, and Tom Campbell, 1977 to present.

The DOE has participated in municipal projects, topped by the city's bulb turbine installations in 1980-81. This project cost $57.5 million. Of that amount, DOE chipped in $6.9 million which was up-front funding and at high risk that could be lost if the bond issue were rejected by voters. As it happened, city residents approved it by a whopping 95 percent majority.

S.J. Groves and Sons, Redmond, Washington, was the prime construction contractor for $20,445,810, and Pacific Ventures, Inc., Bellevue, Washington, held the $19.4 million contract for installing the three bulb turbines.

The city also has a joint agreement with DOE for reciprocal use of their fire departments in dire emergencies.

The Idaho Falls and Bonneville school districts all have cooperated closely with INEL to further education, topped by the efforts for supporting the Idaho Falls Center for Higher Education backed by INEL and its contractors.

In 1952 the three-story headquarters building erected by Robert Johnson Associates of Portland, Oregon at Second and Holmes was completed and the AEC headquarters staff occupied it.

This facility was replaced by what is known as the Willow Creek building north of Freeman Park, or 785 DOE Place, August 9, 1985.

Highly important to AEC employees working at the site was the completion of what then was called the Twin Buttes road, now known as Highway 20, for 41 miles between Idaho Falls and Central Facilities, and with Highway 26 to the west.

It was dedicated October 8, 1951, near its intersection of Highway 26. Among those participating were Joe Call, Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce president, as master of ceremonies; Johnston, W. Fisher Ellsworth, Idaho Falls, auto firm owner and new member of the State Highway Board, who cut the ribbon; Roscoe Rich, Burley, State Highway Board chairman; Lt Governor Edson H. Deal, representing Governor Len B. Jordan; and State Senator O.J. Buxton, Driggs.

One of the humorous aspects of this ceremony was the unscheduled appearance of a Butte County cattle truck. The astonished driver saw the paved road ahead and rumbled past as dignitaries watched with mouths agape.

The AEC also announced it did not plan to construct a community for operating personnel at the station. This was a wide departure from the government housing at Oak Ridge, Richland, Los Alamos, and Savannah River installation.

The AEC negotiated with the Navy for the 173,000-acre Arco Naval Proving grounds as part of the approximately 400,000 acres originally required for the station. This eventually grew to the present 572,000 acres. [Note: Much of the land amounting to about 400,000 acres was appraised and just compensation was paid for private land used for public purpose.]

Succession of Idaho Operations Office managers included Johnston, April, 1949, to April, 1954; Allan C. Johnson, April, 1954, to December, 1961; Hugo N. Eskildson, January, 1962, to November 1963, William L. Ginkel, March, 1964, to September, 1973; R. Glenn Bradley, September, 1973, to March, 1976; Charles E. Williams, May, 1976, to June, 1983; Troy E. Wade, July, 1983, to June, 1987, Don Ofte, June 1987 to February, 1989, Phil Hamric (acting manager), January 1, 1990 to February 2, 1990, and Augustine Pitrolo, February 3, 1990 to present.

Over the years, 52 reactors, most of them the first of their kind, have been built at the INEL. Fourteen are operating or operable while the others have been phased out after completion of their research mission.

One of them, the Fuels Processing Facility Project, is under construction.

The Alcohol Fuels Plant, Raft River Geothermal Project, Waste Calcining Facility and Semiscale Test Facility are facilities that have been dismantled , transferred or placed on standby status.

The 14 reactors operating or operable are the Advanced Reactivity Measurement No. 1, Advanced Test Reactor, Advanced Test Reactor Critical, Argonne Fast Source Reactor, Coupled Fast Reactivity Measurement Facility, Experimental Breeder Reactor II, Large Ship Reactor A, Large Ship Reactor B, Natural Circulation Reactor, Neutron Radiography Facility, Submarine Thermal Reactor, Transient Reactor Test Facility, Zero Power Plutonium Reactor and Power Burst Facility.

Leading milestone dates follow:

Feb. 28, 1949. USAEC approves report by director of engineering recommending the reactor testing station be located on the "Pocatello site," or Lost River Desert.

April 14, 1949. National Reactor Testing Station established in East Idaho.

May 10, 1949. After AEC hearing, Idaho Falls is chosen for the Idaho Operations Office.

May 18, 1949. AEC sets first office in city building, a month later at Rogers Hotel annex.

May 30, 1949. Construction starts on first major facility, EBR-I.

August 24, 1949. Public Law 266 authorizes NRTS and money is appropriated.

December 1, 1949. AEC takes control of former Naval Proving Ground of 172,000 acres.

December 1, 1951. Dedication of Highway 20 between Idaho Falls and Arco via Central Facilities.

December 20, 1951. Experimental Breeder Reactor I produced electricity by nuclear fission.

May, 1952. Materials Test Reactor achieved power operation.

February, 1953. Idaho Chemical Processing Plant began hot operations.

July 1953. Experimental Breeder Reactor I proved breeding concept.

March 10, 1953. Nuclear Submarine Nautilus Prototype operates.

1954. Boiling Water Reactor Experiment 1 and 2 constructed.

1955. Original Department of Energy Building on Second Street built.

June 11, 1955. First of four SPERTs began operation.

August 1955. Materials Test Reactor began operations.

July 17, 1955. Boiling Water Reactor Experiment III lit Arco.

June 11, 1955. Special Power Excursion Reactor Test 1 began operations.

1956. Boiling Water Reactor Experiment IV constructed.

August 1958. Materials Test Reactor first used plutonium as fuel.

October 1958. Naval Reactor Facilities A1W (A) Reactor demonstrated. Dual reactor prototype for U. S. Enterprise began.

December 19, 1958. Special Power Excursion Reactor Test III began operations.

March 11, 1960. Special Power Excursion Reactor Test II began operations.

March 28, 1961. Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program cancelled by President Kennedy.

December 1963. Waste Calcining Facility began operations.

August 1964. Experimental Breeder Reactor II produced electrical power.

1965. Loss of Fluid Test begins construction.

September 12, 1965. Naval Reactors Facility S5G Prototype operational.

August 26, 1966. Experimental Breeder Reactor-I declared National Historic Landmark.

December 25, 1969. Zero Powered Physics Reactor began operation.

September 1972. Power Burst Facility achieved criticality.

August 14, 1974. National Reactor Testing Station renamed Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.

September 1974. First operation of Semiscale.

1975. INEL designated National Environmental Research Park.

December 1975. Loss of Fluid Test Facility began testing.

1976. Technical Support Building and University Place constructed.

March 1976. Loss of Fluid Testing - Loss of Cooling Accident non-nuclear simulation.

1978. Technical Support Annex constructed.

December 1978. Loss of Fluid Testing - Loss of Cooling Accident nuclear simulation.

1979. Willow Creek Building constructed.

1982. New Waste Calcining Facility constructed.

April 17, 1984. INEL Research Center dedicated.

1985. Stored Waste Examination Pilot Plant and Waste Experimental Reduction Facility began.

April 1986. Excavation begins on Chem Plant's Fuel Processing Restoration Facility to recover uranium from spent U. S. Navy nuclear fuel and slated for completion in 1994.

July 1986. First of 22 trainloads of Three Mile Island waste arrives as part of DOE $190 million effort to study core.

August 1986. INEL named preferred site for SIS and NPR.

The Atomic Energy Commission forecasts that nuclear power, now providing about 14 percent of this country's electricity, will account for 60 percent by the end of the century.

EG&G Idaho, Inc., the prime operating contractor for the INEL, assumed its contract October 1, 1976, and has seen a steady growth until it reached 4,500 in 1990.

EG&G is the acronym for Edgerton, Germeshaun and Grier, the original founders. The Idaho version took over from Idaho Nuclear Corp., with about 3,000 employees.

EG&G Idaho is wholly owned subsidiary of EG&G, Inc., an international, multielement corporation with headquarters in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 as a consulting firm to the AEC for nuclear weapon programs.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and its predecessor, National Reactor Testing Station, have enjoyed warm relations with the State of Idaho, City of Idaho Falls, and other political subdivisions.

Name changes:
Jan. 1, 1947 Civilian Atomic Energy Commission AEC
Jan. 19, 1975 Energy Research and Development Administration ERDA
Oct. 1, 1975 Department of Energy DOE

Submitter: Ben J. Plastino. Mr. Plastino was commissioned by the Department of Energy and EG&G, prime contractor, to write a history of INEL from the start in March 1949 to the present, 1990. At this writing, this 200-page document was under review by DOE.

1. The New World, 1939-46, Volume 1, by Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson Jr.
2. Atomic Shield, 1947-52, Volume 2, by Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan.
3. Atoms for Peace and War, 1953-61, Volume 3, by Richard G. Hewlett.
4. Nuclear Navy, 1946-62, by Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan.
5. A History of the Atomic Energy Commission, July, 1983, by Alice L. Buck.
6. Beautiful Bonneville, history of Bonneville County.
7. INEL News, booklet on 40th anniversary, May 1989.
8. Idaho Falls Public Library.
9. INEL Technical Library.
10. . The Post Register.
11. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, booklet, 1989.
12. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Annual Report, 1989.
13. EG&G Idaho, Inc. fact sheet
14. INEL Snake River Plain Aquifer
15. Influence of Liquid Waste Disposal on the Geochemistry of Water at the National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho, 1952-70, J. B. Robertson, Robert Schoen, J. T. Barraclough.
16. Geohydrologic Story of the Eastern Snake River Plain and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, November, 1985, Dr. Bill Hackett, Idaho State University; Dr. Jack Pelton, Boise State University; and Dr. Chuck Brockway, University of Idaho.
17. The Snake Rvier Aquifer, Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, University of Idaho, U.S.D.O.E., Idaho Operations Office.
18. Wildlife at the INEL, Environmental Affairs Subcommittee, Idaho Falls Section of the American Nuclear Society.
19. Ben J. Plastino, INEL historian serving temporarily as consultant.
20. D. V. Groberg, real estate appraiser.

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