PRINCETON PLASMA PHYSICS LABORATORY

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), established in 1951, is a single-purpose research lab of the Department of Energy, Office of Science, managed by the trustees of Princeton University. Its primary mission is to conduct basic and applied research and development to improve the understanding of controlled nuclear fusion. Above is pictured the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). The goal of the TFTR is to achieve fusion break-even, that is, to produce fusion power output equal to the plasma-heating input. A fusion reaction requires a density of 1/100,000 that of air at sea level and a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, with a confinement time of one second.