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Published: 1997

Total Pages: 92

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The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) established the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in 1949 as a place for the safe development of nuclear energy. It selected the desert site in eastern Idaho on the Snake River Plain for its abundant supply of subsurface water and its relative isolation from densely populated settlements. The land already was in public ownership because the United States Navy had used it as a proving ground in connection with its Pocatello Ordnance Depot during World War II. The NRTS presently consists of about 890 square miles. Its name was changed to Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in 1974 and then to Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in 1997. The business of NRTS was to experiment with and then accumulate and disseminate knowledge about nuclear reactors. One of the major goals of the United States Congress was to promote a commercial nuclear power industry. Much of the testing and experimentation at the NRTS was related to reactor safety and promoted this goal directly. Military application, although focused on weapon systems such as nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft bombers, were expected to generate knowledge and experience transferable to a commercial industry.