On the Forrestal campus off Route 1, in a building that strikingly resembles Jadwin Hall, 300 of the world's best scientists work to create an energy source from a temperature that is 10 times hotter than the center of the Sun.
Founded in 1951 by University astrophysics professor Lyman Spitzer, Jr. GS '38, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is dedicated to promoting research of plasma, the fourth state of matter, and fusion, a reaction that releases high amounts of energy by forcing two atoms to bond.
Spitzer, perhaps one of the greatest physicists of the past century, received funding to start the lab when he invented the "stellerator," a tube shaped like a figure eight that confines plasma in a magnetic field.
After Spitzer presented his proposal to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, funding was secured and the PPPL has been running since. The lab now receives $82.7 million per year from the Department of Energy to fund its research. Its operating contract with the University, however, is about to expire. As per the Department of Energy's requirements, when Princeton's contract runs out, organizations interested in managing the lab must bid for it.
Princeton has already announced its plans to continue managing PPPL.
"We are confident that Princeton University will put together an excellent proposal; other competitors may also put together solid proposals," Richard Hawryluk, deputy director of the PPPL, said in an email. "Our task is to put the best proposal together."
"We are committed to making the strongest possible case for continuing to manage PPPL, as we have done successfully for many years," President Tilghman said in a recent press release.
The science of plasma physics
The PPPL employs many scientists and researchers who collectively publish an average of 300 papers per year. In addition to three University faculty members, the lab currently employs 79 physicists, 75 engineers, 166 technicians and 37 graduate students. Russell Holtz, one of the winners of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics, did his research at the lab.
To study different effects on plasma, the lab machines run for several weeks at a time, but must be shut down for regular maintenance. When the machine is running, however, numerous scientists congregate at PPPL.
Most recently, scientists at the PPPL completed the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), a machine which cost $25 million to build. The NSTX — which spans the length about half a football field — generates energy in the form of a fusion reaction that creates plasma.
Plasma is created in a complex process that starts with a fusion reaction caused by combining two different hydrogen isotopes: deuterium and tritium. When the two isotopes collide at high speeds at temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius, helium, a neutron and large amounts of energy are released. An electron is ejected and plasma is formed. Scientists then use magnetic fields to confine the plasma.
"We're really trying to be able to produce a new form of energy," Hawryluk said.
Though there was a decrease in funding in the 1990s, funding is slowly starting to increase again. "The current budget is about 20 percent of what it was in the 1980s," said Anthony R. DeMeo, head of information services at PPPL.
The lab is currently working on an international experiment with many other nations around the world, including the European Union, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and India. Named ITER ("The Way" in Latin), the project has taken more than 10 years to plan. The PPPL will be building 16 percent of the final product and sending it to France, where the pieces will be assembled. The goal is to produce 500 million watts of power for at least 400 seconds.
After the completion of ITER, the PPPL envisions building a demo plant around 2025 to test its ability to provide energy. If this is successful, it could be possible to complete a prototype by 2050 with the support of continued government funding.
"We are at the mercy of the government to do it," DeMeo said.
Beyond research
Other than scientific research, the PPPL is also dedicated to community outreach. Providing summer programs as well as its Science on Saturday lecture series, the PPPL strives to create a bond with the surrounding community. It also offers courses for science teachers about how to better educate students in science.
The lab has never been at the center of any safety controversies. The last protest that Hawryluk could recall was one in which three people gathered in front of the building as a result of the PPPL using tritium, a radioactive isotope, in an experiment. The protesters, however, quickly left.
"When we brought in tritium, people were comfortable with it. We had a community that was informed," Hawryluk said.
Though tritium has a much smaller effect on the general population death rate than smoking, the lab still chose to conduct several information sessions about the isotope so that concerned community members could see where the tritium was being stored and could freely ask any questions.
"You have to take [safety] seriously," he added. "It takes time to build trust. If you do one thing incorrectly, it could remove all that trust."
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