It has five regional districts, with headquarters in Angra dos Reis, Caetité, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, and Resende, and a special office in Brasília.

The IPEN has a broad infrastructure of laboratories, a research reactor (IEA-R1), an industrial particle accelerator, and a compact cyclotron of variable energy.

Since 1976, the IRD possesses a Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory, recognized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.

It originated in the Engineering School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and was created in 1952 with the name of Institute of Radioactive Researches (IPR).

Patents publications, technology licensing, radiopharmaceuticals, materials essays and analysis, radioactive waste collecting, consulting and human resources formation are IEN's main products and services.