Skip to main content

User Facilities at the National Labs

National lab user facilities are federally sponsored research facilities available for external use to advance scientific or technical knowledge under the following conditions:

  • Open - The facility is open to all interested potential users without regard to nationality or institutional affiliation.
  • Competitive - Allocation of facility resources is determined by merit review of the proposed work.
  • Free - User fees are not charged for non-proprietary work if the user intends to publish the research results in the open literature. Full cost recovery is required for proprietary work.
  • Accessible - The facility provides resources sufficient for users to conduct work safely and efficiently.
  • Collaborative - The facility supports a formal user organization to represent the users and facilitate sharing of information, forming collaborations, and organizing research efforts among users.
  • Unique - The facility capability does not compete with an available private sector capability.

Select the links below to explore profiles of user facilities at different national labs. Learn more about user facilities in general by visiting the DOE Office of Science website.

Ames Laboratory Ames, Iowa

Argonne National Laboratory DuPage County, Illinois

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Falls, Idaho

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, New Mexico

National Energy Technology Laboratory Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Morgantown, West Virginia; Albany, Oregon; Houston, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Sandia National Laboratory Albuquerque, New Mexico; Livermore, California; Tonopah, Nevada; Amarillo, Texas

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Menlo Park, California