Inel Radio Broadcasts Recording To Tourists

Tourists who may miss the hidden gems at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory can now hear a 6-minute radio description of the nuclear site as they drive by.

Since Dec. 6, a radio statement is being broadcast over and over, talking about desert ecology and other issues. It is like Robert Redford’s orientation messages that ran in southern Utah’s national parks, minus the celebrity.

“We haven’t got him yet,” said Donny Rousch, who makes the messages for Energy Department contractor Environmental Science and Research Foundation.

The foundation monitors eastern Idaho for offsite radioactivity and studies the desert. Part of its job is to educate the public, so it bought a low-frequency transmitter for a few thousand dollars and put it on a post near the intersection of U.S. highways 20 and 26 on the site. It can be heard at 530 AM for about a 5-mile radius from there.

The foundation will air a new recording every three weeks. The first discusses its efforts to monitor soil, air, water and garden vegetables in eastern Idaho. The following episodes will feature the site’s plants, animals and geology.