Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is a Department of Energy, Office of Science facility on 1,700 acres located 28 miles southwest of Chicago. ANL was the country’s first National Laboratory and focuses on research areas including nuclear reactor development, energy and environmental technology, biomedical and environmental research, and basic sciences research. Some of ANL’s significant accomplishments include: (1) the development of many of the nuclear power reactor types in use today; (2) development and construction of large superconducting magnets; (3) pioneering work in cancer diagnosis and therapy; and (4) development of lithium-metal sulfide batteries for vehicle propulsion and peak-load leveling for utilities. ANL is home to the Advanced Photon Source, a 1,104 meter circumference synchrotron-radiation light source producing high-brilliance x-ray beams used to carry out basic and applied research in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry, environmental, geophysical, and planetary sciences along with innovative x-ray instrumentation.

ANL’s other site (ANL-W) is about 35 miles west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Research at ANL-W is typically focused on areas of national concern including those relating to energy, nuclear safety, dealing with spent nuclear fuel, nonproliferation, decommissioning and decontamination technologies, and similar work.