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IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY

The Research and Education Campus

The Research and Education Campus (REC), formerly the Science and Technology Campus (STC), is the administrative, technical support, and computer center for INL. Located in Idaho Falls, 25 miles east of the INL site border, REC is one of INL's three main complexes. It occupies 30 DOE-owned and leased facilities, including laboratories, in town. The labs are used to aid the research and development efforts of the DOE's Nuclear Energy (NE).

The INL administration is located in the Engineering Research Office Building and the Willow Creek Building. REC facilities also house National Security programs and INL precision machining and glass shops. Construction of other facilities such as a visitor's center has been proposed. REC is home to INL's Ice Storm supercomputer, ranked 64th fastest in the world according to the November 2007 TOP500 world's fastest supercomputer list. In December 2007, the INL opened its High-Performance Computing Center, which is expected to aid in reactor development. It has enhanced capabilities in computer modeling, simulation and visualization.

Two notable centers are located at REC.

• The Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) is a public/private partnership between the State of Idaho and its three public universities, private industry, the DOE, and the INL, and managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA). CAES works to expand education and research opportunities in fossil fuels, renewable energy, alternative energy, environmental stewardship, energy policy, and commercial nuclear power through cross-organizational and peer-to-peer collaboration and resource integration. CAES is scheduled to move to a new building in the fall of 2008 and will also house the Energy Policy Institute.

• The INL Research Center (IRC) facility (IF-603), established in 1984, occupies a 35-acre site. At one time the IRC consisted of 66 laboratories. The approximately 24 labs still in use are dedicated to research in robotics, genetics, biology, chemistry, metallurgy, computational science, and hydropower. Other disciplines have included earth sciences and environmental engineering, biotechnology, physical systems modeling, systems engineering, intelligent automation and remote systems, applied engineering, nuclear science, materials processing, chemical separations and processing, and sensing and diagnostics. Fundamental and applied research and development (R&D) serves government agencies, private companies, universities, and nonprofit organizations. Starting in 1995, projects at the IRC have been honored with the annual R&D 100 Award, which recognizes the 100 most significant and innovative new technologies each year.