Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington.
Originally named the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, PNL was established in 1965 when research and development at the Hanford Site was separated from other Hanford operations. In 1995, the laboratory was renamed the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also known as PNNL.
Facilities
PNNL houses several scientific user facilities and research facilities.
Scientific user facilities
The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a U.S. Department of Energy national scientific user facility. EMSL provides researchers around the world with integrated capabilities in oxide and mineral interface chemistry, high-performance computing and computational chemistry software, mass spectrometry, high-field magnetic resonance, and subsurface flow and transport.
The Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Laboratory (BSEL) is a joint effort between Washington State University and PNNL, and is located on the WSU-Tri-Cities campus. Within BSEL, researchers are developing technology for converting agricultural byproducts into chemicals for products like plastics, solvents, fibers, pharmaceuticals, and fuel additives.
Researchers at PNNL's Radiochemical Processing Laboratory are developing processes to advance the cleanup of radiological and hazardous wastes; the processing and disposal of nuclear fuels; and the production and delivery of medical isotopes.
The Applied Process Engineering Laboratory (APEL) is a technology business startup user facility, sponsored in part by PNNL. APEL provides engineering- and manufacturing-scale space and chemical, biological, and electronic laboratories and equipment for developing, validating, and commercializing new products.
Research facilities
Three research facilities were constructed on PNNL's Richland, Washington campus to partially replace laboratory and office space PNNL had been using on the south end of the nearby Hanford Site.
The Physical Sciences Facility, a federally funded research complex that was designed by Flad Architects, opened in 2010 houses PNNL's research into materials science, radiation detection, and ultra-trace analysis. The privately funded Computational Sciences Facility and Biological Sciences Facility house about 310 staff who support PNNL's energy, environmental, national security, and fundamental science research missions. These two new facilities opened in 2009. The CSF contains scientific capabilities in information analytics, high-performance computing, cyber security and bioinformatics. The BSF focuses on bioenergy, environmental and soil remediation and includes systems biology, microbial and cellular biology and analytical interfacial chemistry.
The Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center at PNNL combines software, real-time power grid data and computation into a control room setting. The ideas and technologies developed in the EIOC address better management of the power grid. The EIOC also is available to utilities, vendors, government agencies and universities interested in research, development or training.
PNNL-Sequim (2022-present), previously known as the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory (2021) and the Marine Sciences Laboratory (1966-2021), located at Sequim, Washington, is the DOE's only marine laboratory. PNNL-Sequim provides analytical and general-purpose laboratories, as well as wet or support laboratories supplied with heated and cooled freshwater and seawater. More than 20 engineers and scientists work on coastal restoration and security projects, from reviving salmon habitat to research on how shellfish could detect a bioterrorist attack. PNNL-Sequim also operates a research vessel.
Other PNNL research facilities include the following: Research Aircraft Pretreatment Engineering Platform Microproducts Breakthrough Institute Joint Global Change Research Institute Instrument Performance Testing Hanford Meteorological Station In Vivo Radioassay and Research Facility Non-Destructive Analysis Laboratory Radiological Calibration and Irradiation Facility Proteomics other Mass Spectrometry-based Omics Shallow underground laboratory for low-activity radiation measurement