United States Naval Research Laboratory
The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological development and prototyping. The laboratory's specialties include plasma physics, space physics, materials science, and tactical electronic warfare. NRL is one of the first US government scientific R&D laboratories, having opened in 1923 at the instigation of Thomas Edison, and is currently under the Office of Naval Research.[2]
Established
1923
Basic and Applied Research
$1.1 billion[1]
2,538 civilian
86 military (2015)
1923–present
1923–present
Research
As of 2016, NRL was a Navy Working Capital Fund activity, which means it is not a line-item in the US Federal Budget. Instead of direct funding from Congress, all costs, including overhead, were recovered through sponsor-funded research projects. NRL's research expenditures were approximately $1 billion per year.[3]
The Naval Research Laboratory conducts a wide variety of basic research and applied research relevant to the US Navy. NRL scientists and engineers author over 1200 openly published research papers in a wide range of conferences, symposia, and journals each year.
It has a history of scientific breakthroughs and technological achievements dating back to its foundation in 1923.[4] In some instances the laboratory's contributions to military technology have been declassified decades after those technologies have become widely adopted.
In 2011, NRL researchers published 1,398 unclassified scientific and technical articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.[5] In 2008, the NRL was ranked No. 3 among all U.S. institutions holding nanotechnology-related patents, behind IBM and the University of California.[6]
Current areas of research at NRL include, for example:[5]
In 2014, the NRL was researching: armor for munitions in transport, high-powered lasers, remote explosives detection, spintronics, the dynamics of explosive gas mixtures, electromagnetic railgun technology, detection of hidden nuclear materials, graphene devices, high-power extremely high frequency (35–220 GHz) amplifiers, acoustic lensing, information-rich orbital coastline mapping, arctic weather forecasting, global aerosol analysis & prediction, high-density plasmas, millisecond pulsars, broadband laser data links, virtual mission operation centers, battery technology, photonic crystals, carbon nanotube electronics, electronic sensors, mechanical nano-resonators, solid-state chemical sensors, organic opto-electronics, neural-electronic interfaces and self-assembling nanostructures.[5][7]
The laboratory includes a range of R&D facilities. 2014 additions included the NRL Nanoscience Institute's 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) Class 100 nanofabrication cleanroom;[8][9] quiet and ultra-quiet measurement labs;[10] and the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR).[11]
The main campus of NRL is in Washington, D.C., near the southernmost part of the District. It is on the Potomac River and is immediately south of (but is not part of) Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. This campus is immediately north of the Blue Plains site of the DC Water Authority. Exit 1 of northbound I-295 leads directly to Overlook Avenue and the NRL Main Gate. The U.S. Postal Service operates a post office on the NRL main campus.[70]
In addition, NRL operates several field sites and satellite facilities:[5][64][71]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
Artifacts found on the NRL campus, such as stone tools and ceramic shards, show that the site had been inhabited since the Late Archaic Period. Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, granted the tract of land which includes the present NRL campus to William Middleton in 1663. It became part of the District of Columbia in 1791, and was purchased by Thomas Grafton Addison in 1795, who named the area Bellevue and built a mansion on the highlands to the east.
Zachariah Berry purchased the land in 1827, who rented it out for various purposes including a fishery at Blue Plains. The mansion was demolished during the Civil War to build Fort Greble. In 1873 the land was purchased by the federal government as the Bellevue Annex to the Naval Gun Factory, and several buildings were constructed including the Commandant's house, "Quarters A", which is still in use today.[76]
Environmental contamination[edit]
The Navy’s environmental investigations began in 1984. NRL was not listed on the National Priorities List as a Superfund and the Maryland Department of the Environment has regulatory oversight. Since the early 2010s, the Navy and MDE have coordinated their activities at NR. In 2017 groundwater investigation PFAS were present on-base in the shallow aquifer. As of 2022, there are 6 active IRP sites (Photo-processing Waste Discharge, fire testing area etc) and 3 active munition response sites at former small arms ranges with lead contamination in the Chesapeake Bay Detachment.[81] An online Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting in May 2021 alarmed residents because of extremely high PFAS levels in the soil at the CBD's fire training facility.[82]
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Navy
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