A Collaborative National Center for Fusion & Plasma Research

Fusion energy

The energy released when two atomic nuclei fuse together. This process powers the sun and stars. Read more

Stewart Prager

Stewart Prager was the sixth director of PPPL. He joined the Laboratory in 2009 after a long career at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. At Wisconsin, he led research on the “Madison Symmetric Torus” (MST) experiment and headed a center that studied plasmas in both the laboratory and the cosmos. He also co-discovered the “bootstrap current” there—a key finding that has influenced the design of today’s tokamaks. He earned his PhD in plasma physics from Columbia University.

Research confirms ingredient in household cleaner could improve fusion reactions

Want to improve your chances of making electricity from fusion? Look no further than the cleaners under your kitchen sink.

Research led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) provides new evidence that particles of boron, the main ingredient of Borax household cleaner, can coat internal components of doughnut-shaped plasma devices known as tokamaks and improve the efficiency of the fusion reactions.

Insightful looks at the nature and role of science by two former PPPL insiders

Intriguing essays on the culture, history, and discoveries of science and an urgent call for the integration of science into public understanding come from two recent works by two former key members of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

Insightful looks at the nature and role of science by two former PPPL insiders

An inside look at the National Academies’ putting fusion on the grid report

Richard J. Hawryluk, associate director for fusion at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), chaired the committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to produce a report on a U.S. fusion pilot plant at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy.

An inside look at the National Academies’ putting fusion on the grid report

Richard J. Hawryluk, associate director for fusion at the U.S.Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), chaired the committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to produce a report on a U.S. fusion pilot plant at the request of the U.S. Department of Energy.

New high-performance computing cluster will greatly enhance PPPL and Princeton University research

Stellar, a computing cluster that Princeton University is installing in its High-Performance Computing Research Center, will sharply advance research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) to bring to Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars. The computer, which the Laboratory will share with a broad range of University departments, will be available to the entire PPPL scientific community including engineers.

National panel chaired by PPPL expert urges the government and private sector to produce net electricity in fusion pilot plant by 2035-2040

Facility would be a vital step toward harvesting the power that drives the sun and stars.

National panel chaired by PPPL expert urges the government and private sector to produce net electricity in fusion pilot plant by 2035-2040

The U.S. should immediately invest in resolving the scientific and technical issues in designing and building a fusion-powered pilot plant to operate in the 2035-2040 time range as a stepping stone to a commercial fusion plant that would fire up by 2050. Calling for the acceleration was a 93-page report put together by a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) chaired by Richard J. Hawryluk, associate director for fusion at the U.S.

Extreme-scale computing and AI help forecast a promising outlook for divertor heat-loads in next-step fusion reactors

Efforts to duplicate on Earth the fusion reactions that power the sun and stars for unlimited energy must contend with extreme heat-load density that can damage the doughnut-shaped fusion facilities called tokamaks, the most widely used laboratory facilities that house fusion reactions, and shut them down.