VOL. 5, NO. 2 • SUMMER/FALL 2001

PPPL Director Goldston Garners Fusion

Power Associates Leadership Award

I

n recognition of his influence on the course and content

of the national fusion program and his effectiveness in

communicating the value of fusion research to the U.S.

Congress, Fusion Power Associates (FPA) gave PPPL

Director Rob Goldston its Leadership Award for 2001.

Goldston is one of two recipients this year. The other is

Ron Parker, former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center

and former leader of the International Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor Co-center in Garching, Germany.

The awards were presented during FPA’s annual meeting, held this year September 25 and 26 in Washington,

D.C.

The citation for Goldston states, “You have provided

forceful and effective guidance to a wide spectrum of

fusion scientific topics and have helped put fusion back

on the U.S. national political agenda.” In addition to

lauding Goldston’s influence on the course of the national

fusion program, the FPA Board noted his “outstanding

leadership of the Laboratory.”

Said Goldston, “I am delighted to receive this award.

I have worked broadly to develop a vision of fusion

energy science which respects the range of scientific

judgment in our community, and which moves forward

both the science of plasmas and the development of fusion

energy.”

Distinguished Career

Goldston came to PPPL as a graduate student in 1972

after receiving his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude,

from Harvard University. He served as a research assistant at the Laboratory for five years and earned his Ph.D.

in astrophysics, Program in Plasma Physics, from

Princeton University in 1977. Over the next 15 years, he

advanced to progressively responsible positions on the

PPPL research staff.

Goldston was named

professor of astrophysical sciences at

Princeton University

in 1992, a position

he continues to hold,

and Associate Director for Research at

PPPL in 1995. In

1997, he became the

Laboratory’s fifth

Director.

Goldston has had

a distinguished career pursuing experimental and theoretical research on the

Rob Goldston

high-temperature plasmas required for producing thermonuclear fusion. He is the author and coauthor of more

than 200 scholarly articles, and is coauthor with Paul

Rutherford of the textbook, Introduction to Plasma Physics.

FPA Awards are given annually for Leadership, Distinguished Career, and for Excellence in Fusion Engineering. Special Awards also are occasionally presented.

Leadership awards have been presented annually since

1980 to individuals who have shown outstanding leadership qualities in accelerating the development of fusion.

Other PPPL scientists to receive the FPA Leadership

Award are Dale Meade (1999) and Harold Furth (1982).

Fusion Power Associates is a nonprofit, tax-exempt

research and educational foundation that provides timely

information on the status of fusion development and other

applications of plasma science and fusion research. ●
PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001 Page 2

The PPPL NEWS is issued by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a research facility supported by

the United States Department of Energy and managed by Princeton University. Correspondence and

requests to reprint material should be directed to: Information Services, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, P.O. Box 451, Princeton, NJ 08543; telephone 609-243-2750; fax 609-243-2751; e-mail pppl_info@pppl.gov

.

PPPL NEWS

Information Services Head: Anthony R. DeMeo

Editor/Writer: Patti Wieser

Photographer: Elle Starkman

Layout and Graphics: Gregory J. Czechowicz

and Patti Wieser

PPPL Participates in the “Scientific Discovery

through Advanced Computing” Program

PPPL has been awarded funding under the new “Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing

(SciDAC)” Program. Nationally, 51 projects will receive

a total of $57 million this year from the DOE to advance

fundamental research in several areas, including climate

modeling, fusion energy sciences, chemical sciences,

nuclear astrophysics, high-energy physics, and high-performance computing. The projects involve collaborations among 13 DOE laboratories and more than 50

colleges and universities.

SciDAC is an integrated program that will help create

a new generation of scientific simulation codes. The

codes will take full advantage of the extraordinary computing capabilities of terascale computers (computers

capable of doing trillions of calculations per second) to

address ever larger, more complex problems. The program also includes research on improved mathematical

and computing systems software that will allow these

codes to use modern parallel computers effectively and

efficiently. Additionally, the program will develop

“collaboratory” software to enable geographically separated scientists to effectively work together as a team, to

control scientific instruments remotely, and to share data

more readily.

“This innovative program will help us to find new

energy sources for the future, understand the effect of

energy production on our environment and learn more

about the fundamental nature of energy and matter,” said

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. “A major strength

of many of the projects is a partnership between scientists

at the Energy Department’s national laboratories and

universities.”

PPPL researchers will participate in four SciDAC

projects focused on the development and improvement of

physics models and computer resources needed for integrated simulations of plasma confinement systems and

data analysis. Plasmas are the hot, ionized gases that fuel

the fusion process. Three of the projects will focus on

fundamental phenomena including electromagnetic-waveplasma interactions, plasma turbulence, and macroscopic

stability of magnetically confined plasmas. The fourth

project aims to develop a software “collaboratory” allowing workstation and supercomputer resources to be shared

among fusion experiments for high-speed data analysis.

The project will include tasks relating to security, high

performance distributed computing, and networked collaborative visualization of scientific results. All totaled,

PPPL will receive approximately $2 million for the four

projects during the next three years. ●

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Laboratories house world-class facilities

where more than 30,000 scientists and engineers

perform cutting-edge research spanning DOE’s

science, energy, national security, and environmental quality missions. Interested in the latest

achievements of the National Laboratories? Then

visit the DOE Pulse at: http://www.ornl.gov/news/

pulse/.
Page 3 PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001

PPPL Recognizes Inventors

I

n June, the Laboratory honored 22 inventors during the nineteenth annual Patent Awareness Program Recognition

Dinner at Princeton University’s Prospect House. The event recognized inventors who received patents, applied for

patents, and disclosed inventions during Fiscal Year 2000. The honorees are from the Research, Engineering, and

Technical staff of PPPL, as well as from other institutions that work in collaboration with the Lab. The inventors at

the Patent Dinner are (above), from left, Tobin Munsat, Gail Eaton, John Desandro, Martha Redi, Nathaniel Fisch,

Richard Majeski, Samuel Cohen, Charles Gentile, John Schmidt, Gennady Shvets, Robert Woolley, and John Parker.

Honorees not pictured are Joseph Bartolick, Amnon Fruchtman, Boris Grek, Bob Herskowitz, Max Karasik, Alan

Kennedy, Ken Lincoln, Richard D. Milroy, Yevgeny Raitses, and Stewart Zweben. ●

Photo by Gregg Wielage

Neumeyer Named “Engineer of the Year”

PPPL engineer Charles Neumeyer (at left) received the “Engineer

of the Year” award from the New Jersey Society of Professional

Engineers (NJSPE) on June 2 at the organization’s awards and installation banquet in Somerset.

The citation for Neumeyer stated, “In recognition of your outstanding achievements in engineering, your contributions to the development

of fusion as a long-term energy source, and your notable service in

enhancing the prestige of the engineering profession.” Neumeyer is the

lead project engineer for the National Spherical Torus Experiment

(NSTX). As lead project engineer, he was responsible for integrating

the many physics and engineering requirements and developing the

overall engineering design of the NSTX. ●
PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001 Page 4

O’Neill Develops Arc Blast Safety Training

Dave O’Neill

An electric arc, which often accompanies a failure in

an electric power system, reaches temperatures four

times as high as that of the sun’s surface, and can cause

fatal burns to a person as far away as 5 feet. At a 10-foot

distance, it can inflict major burns. The amount of time

necessary for an electric arc exposure to cause debilitating or fatal burns to an individual is less than one-tenth of

a second. Contact is not necessary for electric arcing to be

fatal.

An electric arc is the passage of current through the

vapor of the arc terminal material. It is usually accompanied by an intense burst of radiant energy, a high pressure

shock wave, and very high sound levels.

To protect electrical workers from the ravages of

electrical arcs, PPPL engineer Dave O’Neill has developed an arc blast protection program that includes a

course called Electric Utilization Training. In the eighthour course — usually divided into two half-days —

O’Neill presents his material through videotapes, lectures, power point presentations, and by exhibiting protective clothing and personal protective equipment.

The sessions illustrate to electrical workers and their

supervisors just how dangerous an arc flash is. One of the

videos, produced by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), captures an arc flash through

high-speed photography, showing how rapidly radiated

heat can burn or seriously injure a person. Mannequins

are instrumented to measure incident energy, pressure,

and sound level. Tests have revealed body surface temperatures in excess of 400 degrees farenheit, pressures in

excess of 2,000 pounds per square foot at the chest, with

sound levels in excess of 165 decibels at the ears.

Lab policy, following the requirements of OSHA,

requires staff to carry out any electrical work with cables

or conductors de-energized, unless de-energizing creates

a greater hazard than working hot or is infeasible due to

equipment design or operational limitations. Activities at

PPPL and elsewhere that could result in arc blast exposure

include taking a voltage measurement, installing or removing a fuse, inserting a starter bucket into a motor

control center, and racking a circuit breaker in or out of

switchgear. Additional examples are hook-stick operation of medium voltage fuses, testing of a cable terminal

before grounding, grounding before testing, and work in

manholes near energized cables.

“Workers need to take precautionary measures,”

O’Neill emphasized. “And anyone who works on or near

exposed energized conductors must wear flame-resistant

clothing and personal protective equipment.”

Flame-resistant clothing — shirt, pants, coat, raincoat, and coveralls — is often made of cotton that has been

specially treated or Nomex. The most critical function of

this clothing is to withstand an arc flash without igniting

(when used within its rating). Many of the arc-flashrelated injuries and fatalities are caused by the ignition of

clothing. Personal protective equipment includes a face

shield made of polycarbonate (lexan) that is treated to

give it an arc-resistant rating. An arc flash can melt a nonarc-resistant face shield. A hard hat, safety glasses, voltPPPL’s Art Wise in protective clothing and gear as he inserts a

starter bucket into a Motor Control Center at the Lab.
Page 5 PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001

PPPL recently hosted the 2001 Department of Energy

(DOE) Electrical Safety Meeting, which drew about

160 attendees representing 25 DOE sites, 10 field offices,

DOE Headquarters, and 20 commercial companies. The

safety meeting covered many topics, including electric

arc hazard, protective clothing selection guidelines, the

role of current limiting fuses in limiting arc energy,

ASTM [American Society for Testing and Materials]

electric arc testing standards, and underground cable

detection.

At left, from left, are meeting coordinator Larry

Perkins, DOE sponsor Pat Tran, and PPPL host Dave

O’Neill. ●

PPPL Hosts DOE Electrical Safety Meeting

age-rated gloves with leather protectors, hearing protection, fire-resistant flash suit jacket and pants, and a fireresistant hood are additional arc protection gear that may

be required depending on the task.

Since O’Neill began teaching the course last year, 96

PPPL employees and 28 non-PPPL workers and supervisors such as Department of Energy, subcontract, and

other employees, have completed it here at the Lab.

O’Neill has also trained 124 managers, supervisors, and

workers at Brookhaven National Laboratory and 50 managers and supervisors at Argonne National Laboratory.

IEEE is adopting the course as its own official training. In

addition, all members of the staff from the Department of

Energy’s (DOE’s) Princeton Area Office have completed

the course, including Allen Wrigley.

“This training introduces electrical workers to electric arc flash hazard, motivates them to protect themselves

from this hazard, and teaches them precautionary techniques and [what] clothing [is] needed to protect themselves,” said Allen Wrigley. “I found the course highly

interesting, and full of useful information. Because of

Dave’s mix of media types in presentation, the course

seems to go very quickly, and generates a lot of enthusiasm, based upon the response and participation during

question opportunities.”

There have been no arc blast injuries at PPPL. O’Neill’s

goal is to keep that record. “We need to understand the

bigger picture so we don’t become a casualty.” The

prevalence of the arc flash hazard was amply demonstrated in that four arc blast accidents, injuring six workers, occurred within 50 miles of PPPL during the sixmonth period that the course was being taught.

He became aware of the dangers of arc blasts after

viewing the IEEE video mentioned above. A seminal

IEEE paper on the subject, “The Other Electrical Hazard:

Electric Arc Blast Burns,” written by Ralph Lee in 1982,

was the first to quantify the relation between an arc blast

and skin tissue damage. In the 1990s, a plethora of IEEE

papers were written that became the basis for new OSHA

regulations and for NFPA70E, a national consensus standard that stipulates safe work practices to protect the

worker from this hazard. Before developing the course,

he researched the topic, talking to several authors of

original papers. “I wanted to convince electrical workers

that this is a serious problem. I felt I had to develop a

course and get the word out,” said O’Neill, who has about

40 years of experience in the electrical power field.

He said accident data about arc blasts is difficult to

obtain because flash and electrical burns are not distinguished from one another in most reports. In an electrical

burn, a current goes through a person’s body, burning him

or her from inside. In an arc blast burn, no contact is

necessary and the person is burned from the exterior.

Fear of litigation makes arc flash accident information very difficult to obtain. Consequently, much of the

information about electrical arc injuries is anecdotal. One

non-PPPL electrical worker was told by his supervisor

that he was not allowed to discuss a recent electrical

accident that occurred at the worker’s facility. But the

danger is real. O’Neill recounted incidents in Trenton and

Newark. In one, the clothing of two electricians burst into

flames as a result of an arc blast and could not be quickly

extinguished, causing severe burns to both. In the other,

an electrical panel exploded, severly burning two electricians, one of whom spent several months in a coma at a

burn center. “An arc blast is a nasty hazard. People need

to know it is there, and protect themselves by taking

precautionary measures, wearing flame-resistant clothing, and using personal protective equipment,” said

O’Neill. ●
PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001 Page 6

Connecting with Colleagues Across the World

Technology Makes Long-distance Communications Easy

The PPPL Media Services group prepares for a videoconference. From left are John

Wertenbaker, Carl Scimeca, Bob Reed, and Larry Nixon.

I

magine a meeting that brings together people from

various locations around the U.S. — no, the world —

without any participant traveling. No hotels; no flights,

trains, car rentals, or gas mileage; no per diems. And no

loss of work time due to being on the road.

It’s possible through a videoconference tool employed by PPPL’s Media Services. A videoconference is

a meeting in which participants at two or more locations

are able to communicate through audio and visual links.

Participants may view and listen to one another as they are

speaking and presenting material. Here’s how it works: a

microphone and camera are used to capture the sound and

video of a speaker, then the Integrated Services Digital

Network (ISDN) or the internet transmits that signal to

Gottlieb Auditorium and DOE Conference Room are

wired for videoconferences.

Videoconference systems have connected folks at

PPPL with people in England, Australia, Japan, all over

the U.S., and South Africa. It is by far the most popular

service requested by staff for hooking them up with other

researchers or for training, said Scimeca. In the year 2000,

Media Services set up 105 videoconferences. Project

staff, physicists, hazardous materials staff, theorists, graduate students, and collaborators are among the requestors.

“Our facilities are quite booked. We have standing weekly

and bi-weekly videoconferences,” said Scimeca.

For instance, on Monday mornings, personnel from

PPPL and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Princeton

another location (s).

The “far end” must

have equipment similar to the Lab’s,

which enables both

sites to communicate. ISDN is a digital service designed

to carry voice, data,

and video across the

public-switched network.

Site participants

communicate either

through a point-topoint conference like

those conducted in a

telephone call or

through a bridge

such as the Energy

Science Network

Bridge in California, which allows multiple sites to participate in a conference. This type of conference is known

as a multi-point conference. Each site participating has its

own videoconference system and uses the bridge to

connect to another. A coordinator from each site tends to

the links. At PPPL, Computer Operations and Multimedia Services Head Carl Scimeca and his group are responsible for videoconference arrangements.

“Videoconferences save a tremendous amount of

money and time that would be spent traveling to meetings,” said Scimeca. There are four videoconference

systems in place at PPPL. In addition, the Lab’s Melvin B.

Area Office in New

Jersey “meet” with

staff from the DOE’s

Office of Fusion Energy Sciences in

Maryland to discuss

projects, hardware,

and budgets, among

other subjects. On

Monday afternoons,

PPPL staff collaborating on the C-Mod

experiments at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(MIT) participate in

a videoconference

with their colleagues

in Massachusetts.

Scimeca also set up

a videoconference

for all staff when Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham

announced the DOE budget rollout in April.

Media Services provides videoconference services

for PPPL and collaborations at General Atomics, Oak

Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Texas, the

University of Washington, DOE, the Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, among others.

In addition, staff support requests from Princeton

University and have accommodated employment interviews, as well as lectures. In one instance, a Princeton

professor came to PPPL to present a lecture in French
Page 7 PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001

about coastal water management to government officials

in South Africa.

Besides providing support for videoconferences,

Media Services offers streaming media via Realplayer®

software, PPPL telephone bridges, tape duplication, video

recording, and satellite broadcasting. The Realplayer®

allows people to view presentations from other locations.

A camera captures the picture, feeds the signal to a

computer which encodes the signal, and ships it to a server

(computer). Users then connect to an assigned web address to view the broadcast. There is a 20-second delay,

and users need Realplayer® software. Satellite broadcasting is available in the Lab’s Auditorium, enabling

staff to attend training programs on topics ranging from

hazardous materials to diversity. This system uses a

satellite dish to pick up a signal, tune into a channel that

offers a particular program, and broadcast it on a screen.

Media Services staff also loan out equipment to

personnel for presentations, including Liquid Crystal

Display (LCD) projectors, VCRs, laptop computers, and

show stations. In addition, the group video records weekly

colloquia, Science-on-Saturday lectures held in the Auditorium, and other special presentations as requested. “Our

team makes sure everything is working ahead of time,

which involves troubleshooting and contingency plans,”

said Scimeca. ●

I

n June, an external review committee commended the

pre-conceptual engineering design of the Fusion Ignition Research Experiment (FIRE) magnets, structure,

vacuum vessel, and plasma facing components. Following the review, which was held at PPPL, the committee

recommended that additional resources be made available to conclude pre-conceptual design expeditiously.

The FIRE team is preparing a plan to address several

critical design and research and development issues identified during the meeting.

The committee included Chair Charles Bushnell, Jim

Irby of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),

Saurin Majumdar of Argonne National Laboratory, Peter

Mioduszewski of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ron

Parker of MIT, Aldo Pizzuto of Frascati, and Fred Puhn

of General Atomics. The charge for the review, presentations made to the review committee, and the Committee’s

FIRE Design Reviewed

recommendations are available on the web at http://

fire.pppl.gov/eng_extreview2001.html.

Above, Brad Nelson of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discusses the stress calculations for the FIRE vacuum

vessel. ●

DOE Honors Young for Achievements

I

n recognition of his collaborative

efforts and contributions in developing fusion diagnostics systems,

PPPL physicist Ken Young (at right)

recently was awarded the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Distinguished Associate Award. John

Willis, Director of the Research DiTFTR legacy, and his very real efforts in behalf of

collaborative fusion physics research, both within the

U.S. and abroad. His dedicated efforts have had a major

impact on the diagnostics systems that bind theory and

experiment together in advancing fusion.”

During Young’s more than three-decade-long career

at PPPL as a fusion researcher and plasma diagnostics

specialist, he was involved in moving forward the whole

concept of how diagnostics are used on machines. He

developed diagnostics and performed measurements and

experiments on a number of fusion devices at PPPL. From

1982 to 1994, he was the Division Head for TFTR and

before his retirement served as Diagnostics Head of the

Lab’s International Off-site Research Division. ●

vision at the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences,

presented the award to Young in April during Young’s

retirement dinner. The award cites Young for his role as

“the leader of diagnostics development for the Tokamak

Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), his subsequent contributions to the breakthrough measurements which are the
PPPL NEWS • Summer/Fall 2001 Page 8

Trenton Students Discover Energy and Build Solarpowered Machines at PPPL’s Plasma Academy

I

n a quest for knowledge about energy and solar power,

16 high school students from the Trenton area came to

PPPL this summer to build solar-powered devices and

shoot toy rockets. These hands-on activities were part of

Plasma Academy (officially called Energy, Space, and

the Environment Institute), which ran August 6-16.

Topics covered were solar energy; clouds, weather,

and storms; and the Sun, stars, planets, and plasmas. The

institute was part of a Mercer County Community College Upward Bound program. The participating students

were from Granville Academy, Mercer Junior-Senior

High School, McCorristan High School, and Trenton

Central High School.

Show How Energy is Transformed

“This is the first time we offered an academy like this

for high school students. Designing and constructing

useful solar-powered devices such as model cars, water

heaters, and ovens, as well as shooting toy rockets and

aircraft, are tasks that show the students how energy is

transformed in different ways and where energy comes

from,” said PPPL Science Education Program Lead Scientist Andrew Post-Zwicker. Post-Zwicker designed and

led Plasma Academy. Watchung Hills Regional High

School physics teacher Sophia Gershman assisted PostZwicker with the workshop.

Plasma Academy participant Patrick Alvarado tests his solarpowered model car on the patio area of PPPL’s Commons. Alvarado

is a student at Trenton Central High School.

Above left, Trenton Central High School student Meghan Campbell (left) and Granville Academy student Quam Onigbanjo build a model

garage that uses solar energy to power the ventilation. Above right, Patrick Alvarado (middle) and Marcus McCray (right) build a solarpowered model vehicle under the guidance of workshop leader Andrew Post-Zwicker (left).

The academy also included field trips to a coal-fired

plant in Trenton, the Hayden Planetarium in New York,

and the Peddie School Observatory in Hightstown. ●

Printed on recycled paper.