Congressmen advocate funding increase for Plasma Physics Lab

Rep. Mike Pappas (R-Rocky Hill) and Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Morristown) pledged to support funding for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory during a speech to PPPL staffers on Jan. 26.

Due to federal budget cuts, funding for the PPPL has fallen from $111 million in October 1992 to $56.6 million for fiscal year 1997, forcing the lab to slash 160 jobs and dismantle the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, the most powerful reactor in the world last April.

President Clinton has proposed allocating $228 million to fusion energy research, four million dollars less than Congress approved for fiscal year 1998.

Of the $228 million, $50.2 million has been allotted for the PPPL to continue its research and development of the National Spherical Torus Experiment, a project which is scheduled to operate by mid-1999 and will attempt to produce spherical-shaped plasma.

"We asked for about six million dollars more than what we are getting, but with $50 million we are going to do wonderful things right now," PPPL Director Robert Goldston said.

By the year 2100, the world will require three times more energy than it currently does, and carbon dioxide emissions will have to decrease by two-thirds to stabilize the amount in the atmosphere, Goldston explained. "We will need new energy sources, and one of them could be fusion," he said.

Frelinghuysen recognized the pressing need for fusion energy. "Fusion energy has the potential to be an unlimited and ultra-clean source of energy for the world. We cannot turn our backs on this now that we have come so far. I'm hoping the President agrees," he said.

Pappas and Frelinghuysen wrote a letter to the White House Jan. 26, referring to fusion as "one of the many clean and viable sources of energy for the next century." Nevertheless, Clinton proposed a $4 million cut from the budget for fiscal year 1998 for the fusion energy research on Feb. 2.

Although the President does make the initial proposal for the budget, Congress actually appropriates the funding. A basic level of fusion funding has had strong bipartisan support in the past three to four years, according to Director of the University's Office of Government Affairs Nan S. Wells.

Rep. Frelinghuysen's Press Secretary Trent Duffy said that the two congressmen are committed to increasing the research funding. "Both Congressman Frelinghuysen and Congressman Pappas are going to work to get the funding back up to at least $232 million and see what they can do to get Princeton the allocation they need," he explained.

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology established a panel on energy and climate change, and the committee recommended that the fusion program receive $250 million for fiscal year 1999, Wells said.

Daniel Weitz '00, a 1996 finalist of a national science competition for his research in fusion, expressed optimism about funding prospects. "Because of the success we've had at the Plasma Physics Lab, we would not expect our funds to be cut in the future," he said.