A former employee of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has accused the research facility of forgoing over 14 years of important safety inspections for “many” of the lab’s pressure systems and falsifying official records to “certify uninspected systems as safe” in a civil lawsuit filed in early August.
Justin Bradley began working for PPPL in 2019 as an engineer. He claims he was wrongly terminated by the lab, whom he alleges fired him because he brought his concerns to light — a punishment “for refusing to stay silent about unlawful conduct that endangered both workers and the public,” his complaint reads.
Princeton, which operates the Department of Energy-funded lab, pushed back on the lawsuit in a statement.
“The University believes the complaint to be entirely without merit and plans to mount a vigorous defense,” University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said.
PPPL officials named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment. Bradley’s lawyers did not respond to several requests to clarify allegations raised in their lawsuit.
Until this summer, Bradley was the lab’s Pressure Systems Subject Matter Expert (SME), a role mandated by the Department of Energy (DOE) for the safe operation and maintenance of pressure systems.
He began working for the lab as a staff engineer in May 2019, where his responsibilities included technical evaluations and developing “engineering standards to ensure that pressure and vacuum systems complied with DOE requirements, federal and state regulations, and industry quality standards,” the complaint states.
In June 2023, Bradley was promoted to the Pressure Systems SME. According to the complaint, this role had been left unoccupied for nearly five years at the lab.
Upon assuming the role, Bradley claimed that he discovered that the lab had neglected to conduct safety inspections of equipment including pressure vessels, vacuum vessels, heat exchangers, and storage tanks.
“The requirement to routinely inspect pressure vessels, vacuum vessels, heat exchangers, and storage tanks is a critical safety mandate, particularly in a high-risk research facility like Defendant PPPL,” the complaint states. “Failure of such systems can result in serious and irreversible injury or death to employees and others on-site or the surrounding community off-site, and the public at large in the surrounding area.”
The lab works with extreme conditions and substances that are “highly combustible, highly flammable, radioactive, and/or acutely toxic,” the complaint states.
According to New Jersey state regulations, each pressure system must receive either an initial in-service inspection or field inspection, followed thereafter by inspections every 3 years.
Bradley and his lawyers allege that PPPL “failed to conduct even a single internal or external inspection of the laboratory’s pressure vessels for years. Many of these systems … had been in continuous operation for over forty years without ever being evaluated for their continued safety, integrity, or regulatory compliance.”
The complaint alleges that PPPL had not conducted “even one” of these inspections in over 14 years.
“Out of more than 2,600 inspection and compliance records that should have been on file, fewer than 40 existed,” Bradley and his lawyers claimed.
Bradley claimed he attempted to bring his concerns to the New Jersey Office of the Inspector General (NJOIG) and the DOE in October 2024 and obtained a meeting with Michael Ford, the associate lab director of engineering and one of the named defendants in his complaint. Bradley charged that Ford “minimiz[ed]” his concerns, and that PPPL officials later worked to limit his authority.
On May 9, the lab’s Ion Source Heat Exchanger suffered “a critical failure,” supposedly leaking at welded seams, according to the lawsuit.
While no injuries resulted from the incident, Bradley alleges that it was “a direct and foreseeable consequence of Defendants’ deliberate disregard of [his] warnings and their systematic refusal to address well-documented safety hazards.”
Bradley is further alleging that officials in the PPPL altered records in order to bypass the required inspections, including a Pressure Relief Device Risk Assessment to be submitted to the DOE which he said would expose the hazards. He claimed that PPPL officials had modified the report “to mislead federal regulators” and had submitted it without his signature.
Shortly after, on June 4, Bradley was terminated under the pretense of budget cuts, he claimed in the lawsuit.
Bradley has requested a trial by jury, seeking compensation under the NJ Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), which protects the rights of employee whistleblowers.
Lawyers for the University have requested to move the suit to federal court from Mercer County, where it was originally filed. A court date has not yet been set.
Luke Grippo is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from South Jersey and usually covers University and town politics, on a national, regional, and local scale.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
Eisgruber urges Class of 2029 to uphold scholarly rigor and university independence
Cynthia TorresAt Princeton’s annual opening exercises on Aug. 31, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 urged Princeton’s Class of 2029 to uphold honesty, rigor, and independence in scholarship, stressing freedom from political pressures.
At Princeton’s annual opening exercises on Aug. 31, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 urged Princeton’s Class of 2029 to uphold honesty, rigor, and independence in scholarship, stressing freedom from political pressures.
Over 300 community members attend Labor Day vigil for immigrants detained in ICE raid
Sena ChangOver 300 community members gathered in Hinds Plaza in Princeton on Labor Day to protest ICE detentions of immigrants in Princeton.
Over 300 community members gathered in Hinds Plaza in Princeton on Labor Day to protest ICE detentions of immigrants in Princeton.
Pros in Princeton: Tigers host top water polo clubs in the world for exhibition games
Bryant FigueroaA.S.D. Pro Recco, the most decorated club in men’s water polo history, and Ferencvárosi Torna Club (FTC), the reigning back-to-back European champions, will play at Princeton this weekend.