The DOE National Laboratory System

Pre-WWII (and US Entry to WWII)

1923 - 1941

Manhattan Project

1942 - 1947

Atomic Energy Commission

1946 - 1974

Energy Research & Development Admin (ERDA)

1974 - 1977

Department of Energy

1977 - 2025

The National Labs

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

1931

Founded: 1931; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1995

Los Alamos National Laboratory

1943

Founded: 1943; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979 -1981

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

1943

Founded: 1943; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1948

Argonne National Laboratory

1946

Founded: 1946; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1946

Brookhaven National Laboratory

1947

Founded: 1947; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1947

Ames National Laboratory

1947

Founded: 1947; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 2022

Sandia National Laboratories

1949

Founded: 1949; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979

Idaho National Laboratory

1949

Founded: 1949; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 2005

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

1951

Founded: 1951; Current Lab Name Established: 1961

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

1952

Founded: 1952; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 1979

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

1962

Founded: 1962; National Laboratory Reflected in Lab Name: 2008

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

1965

Founded: 1965; Designated a National Laboratory: ~1984 ; Reflected in Lab Name: 1995

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

1967

Founded: 1967; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1967

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1977

Founded: 1977; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1991

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

1984

Founded: 1984; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1996

National Energy Technology Laboratory

1999

Founded: 1910; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 1999

Savannah River National Laboratory

2004

Founded: 1951; Designated a National Laboratory (and Reflected in Lab Name): 2004

Discovered 22 New Elements

1949

Years: 1937, 1944, 1940, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1944, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1974, 1998, 2003, 2000, 2010, 2006

Identified Good and Bad Cholesterol

1950

Year: 1950 (First Paper in Science)

Pioneered Fusion Power Devices

1953

Year: 1953

Uncovered Messenger RNA

1956

Year: 1956

Determined Role of Y Chromosome

1959

Year:1959

Purified Vaccines

1961

Year: 1961

Housed the World's Fastest Supercomputers

1964

Year: 1964 (and many years thereafter)

Discovered Gamma Ray Bursts

1967

Year: 1967

Scooped and Studied Moon Rocks

1969

Year: 1969

Determined Building Blocks of Matter

1974

Years: 1956, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1995, 2000

Unmasked Cause of Dinosaur Extinction

1979

Year: 1979

Set Quantum Computing Framework

1980

Year: 1980

Quantified Risk of Radon Gas

1983

Year: 1983

Replicated Proteins for Vaccines

1984

Year:1984 (Patented)

Revolutionized Accelerators

1988

Year: 1988 (Feasibility Demonstrated)

Created the First US Website

1991

Year: 1991

Set Fusion World Records

1993

Year: 1993

Lowered the Cost of Biofuels

1995

Year: 1995 (Award)

Locked Nuclear Waste in Glass

1996

Year: 1996

Uncovered Cosmic Acceleration

1998

Year: 1998

Sequenced the Human Genome

2000

Year: 2000

Generated the Brightest Laser Light

2003

Year: 2003 (Upgrade Complete)

Recreated Aftermath of the Big Bang

2005

Years: 2005

Harvested Energy from Air

2009

Year: 2009

Prevented Heart Attacks

2010

Year: 2010

Built World's Most Powerful Magnet

2012

Year: 2012

Made the First Molecular Movie

2015

Year: 2015

Super Sized 3D Printing

2016

Year: 2016 (World Record)

Measured Evolution of the Universe

2019

Year: 2019 (survey completed)

Achieved Fusion Ignition

2022

Year: 2022

Revolutionized Medical Diagnostics

1946

Year: 1946

Built First Nuclear Power Plant

1951

Year: 1951

Powered Submarines

1954

Year: 1954

Created First Animated Climate Model

1958

Year: 1958

Safeguarded Nuclear Weapons

1960

Year: 1960

Monitored Nuclear Tests from Space

1963

Year: 1963

Made Cellular Biology Quantitative

1965

Year: 1965

Pioneered Reactor Safety Modeling

1966

Year: 1966

Levitated Trains with Magnets

1968

Year: 1968 (patented)

Invented CD/DVD Recording Process

1974

Year: 1974

Jump-Started the Shale Gas Revolution

1975

Year: 1975

Powered NASA Spacecraft

1977

Year: 1977

Concentrated the Power of the Sun

1981

Year: 1981 (First Operating Solar Tower)

Sharply Curtailed Power Plant Emissions

1985

Year: 1985 (program started)

Simulated Planes, Trains, and Cars

1987

Year: 1987 (company founded)

Upgraded Wind Turbine Designs

1991

Year: 1991

Identified Chemicals in Weapons

1992

Year: 1992

Mapped the Dark Side of the Moon

1994

Year: 1994

Got the Lead Out of Electronics

1996

Year: 1996

Launched the LED Lighting Revolution

1999

Year: 1999

Cleaned up Anthrax

2001

Year: 2001

Developed Airport Body Scanners

2003

Year: 2003

Recovered Lost Work of Archimedes

2005

Year: 2005

Helped Consumers Go Grid Friendly

2007

Year: 2007

Put the Jolt in Chevy Volt

2011

Year: 2011

Perfected Powder for Manufacturing

2012

Year: 2012 (winner of Department of Energy’s America’s Next Top Energy Innovator Challenge)

Expedited Ebola Detection

2014

Year: 2014

Recycled Rare Earth Elements

2018

Year: 2018

Rapidly Responded to COVID Pandemic

2020

Year: 2020

Built World's Largest Digital Camera

2024

Year: 2024

Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR)

1950

Start of Operations: 1950

Shielded Cells Facility

1952

Start of Operations: 1952 (First Cell Block)

Bevatron

1954

Start of Operations: 1954

Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)

1956

Start of Operations: 1956

Alternating Gradient Synchotron (AGS)

1960

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High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)

1966

Start of Operations: 1966

Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)

1967

Start of Operations: 1967

Main Ring

1972

Start of Operations: 1972

Stanford Synchotron Radiation Light Source (SSRL)

1974

Start of Operations: 1974

Plutonium Facility 4 (PF-4)

1978

Start of Operations: 1978

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR)

1982

Start of Operations: 1982

Tevatron

1983

Start of Operations: 1983

Saturn Accelerator

1987

Start of Operations: 1987

High Explosives Applications Facility

1989

Start of Operations: 1989

Solar Energy Research Facility (SERF)

1993

Start of Operations: 1993

Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF)

1994

Start of Operations: 1994

Advanced Photon Source (APS)

1996

Start of Operations: 1996

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)

1997

Start of Operations: 1997

Joint Genome Institute (JGI)

1997

Start of Operations: 1997

National Spherical Torus Experiment

1999

Start of Operations: 1999

Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)

2005

Start of Operations: 2005

Radiological Evidence Examination Facility (REEF)

2006

Start of Operations: 2006

Microsystems Engineering, Science, and Applications (MESA)

2007

Start of Operations: 2007

National Ignition Facility (NIF)

2009

Start of Operations: 2009

Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

2010

Start of Operations: 2010

Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL)

2012

Start of Operations: 2012

Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF)

2013

Start of Operations: 2013

Sensitive Instrument Facility (SIF)

2016

Start of Operations: 2016

Reaction Analysis and Chemical Transformation Facility

2019

Start of Operations: 2019

Energy Sciences Center (ESC)

2021

Start of Operations: 2021

Scientific Breakthroughs

Trailblazing Technologies

World-Class Facilities

1931

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Pre-WWII (and US Entry to WWII)

Manhattan Project

Atomic Energy Commission

Energy Research & Development Admin (ERDA)

Department of Energy

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The DOE National Laboratory System

Celebrating history and collective accomplishments of the Department of Energy national laboratory system

1931

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

1943

Los Alamos National Laboratory

1943

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

1946

Argonne National Laboratory

1946

Revolutionized Medical Diagnostics

1947

Brookhaven National Laboratory

1947

Ames National Laboratory

1949

Sandia National Laboratories

1949

Discovered 22 New Elements

1949

Idaho National Laboratory

1950

Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor (BGRR)

1950

Identified Good and Bad Cholesterol

1951

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

1951

Built First Nuclear Power Plant

1952

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

1952

Shielded Cells Facility

1953

Pioneered Fusion Power Devices

1954

Powered Submarines

1954

Bevatron

1956

Uncovered Messenger RNA

1956

Experimental Boiling Water Reactor (EBWR)

1958

Created First Animated Climate Model

1959

Determined Role of Y Chromosome

1960

Safeguarded Nuclear Weapons

1960

Alternating Gradient Synchotron (AGS)

1961

Purified Vaccines

1962

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

1963

Monitored Nuclear Tests from Space

1964

Housed the World's Fastest Supercomputers

1965

Made Cellular Biology Quantitative

1965

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

1966

High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)

1966

Pioneered Reactor Safety Modeling

1967

Discovered Gamma Ray Bursts

1967

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

1967

Advanced Test Reactor (ATR)

1968

Levitated Trains with Magnets

1969

Scooped and Studied Moon Rocks

1972

Main Ring