Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 1994
Author: V. Finley and M. Wieczorek
The results of the 1994 environmental surveillance and monitoring program for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are presented and discussed. On November 2, 1994, the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) set a world record of approximately 10.7 million watts of controlled fusion power, during the deuterium-tritium (D-T) plasma experiments. This record surpassed the goal of 10 million watts set for the TFTR project, and it represents another step forward to the reality of a commercial fusion reactor in the twenty-first century. The Laboratory Environmental Review Committee, which is a standing committee of the PPPL Environment, Safety, and Health Executive Board, continued to review environmental issues of importance to PPPL. Through the diligence of PPPL staff, no adverse impacts to the environment nor to the public resulted from the operational program activities at the site. It is the Laboratory's stated mission to comply with all the applicable federal, state, and local environmental regulations. Ground-water investigations continued under a voluntary agreement with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection. PPPL monitored for the presence of non-radiological ground-water contamination potentially from past releases of chemicals and/or leaks from former underground storage tanks that had contained petroleum products. Also, PPPL's radiological monitoring program characterized the ambient background tritium levels in the environment and from the TFTR stack, and the data are presented. During 1994, PPPL completed long-term actions to improve PPPL's management, environment, safety, and health programs, which were identified by the 1991 Department of Energy (DOE) "Tiger Team" assessment. Summaries of the assessment and/or other appraisals by DOE and PPPL's environmental compliance programs are included in this report.