G8 Multilateral Research Funding Nu-FuSE

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The primary focus of fusion energy research over the past decades hasbeen on magnetic confinement devices called tokamaks. The UK's JETfacility is currently the largest tokamak in the world but will be surpassedby the international ITER device, now under construction in France.Providing computational resources in support of ITER is a dedicated HighPerformance Computer for Fusion (HPC-FF) at Jülich, Germany, which willsoon be expanded at Rokkasho, Japan in the International Fusion EnergyResearch Center within the ``broader approach" framework betweenJapan and the EU. Operation is planned to start in 2012. Simulation isrequired in three principal areas: plasma physics, the powerful controllingplasma-solid interaction/interface, and materials science. We haveconstructed a consortium involving six countries (France, Germany, Japan,Russia, UK and USA) with expertise in all three of these applicationsdomains as well as the underpinning computational science techniques.We propose to use these skills to undertake an integrated researchprogramme focussed on investigating the scaling of key codes which haverelevance for providing experimentally validated predictive capabilities formagnetic fusion systems.On the path towards an economical magnetic confinement fusion reactorintegrated numerical models can speed up technological but also physicalprogress, even mitigating possible bottlenecks.Our proposal concentrates on codes for three scientific areas, the plasmaitself, the materials from which a reactor will be built, and the physics of theplasma edge.Previous research on materials and plasmas has been conductedindependently, and a key aspect of the proposal is to ensure that scientistsworking in these areas are well versed in all the issues affecting putativedevices. We will train a cohort of young scientists who are genuinelyexpert in "Fusion Energy", as opposed to the current division of expertisebetween plasma physicists, reactor engineers and materials scientists.This group will comprise both the researchers paid for by the project, andthe students funded by the constituent universities to work alongside them.It will also bring together the international group of senior scientists (PIs)from different fields united in the goal of supporting a practical fusionenergy device. The collaborative training courses will ensure thatexpertise in one area is matched by an understanding of the other.Particularly in materials science, researchers are using codes developedto treat a wide range of materials. The issues relevant for fusion are morespecific, and there is plenty ofscope for both algorithmic and parallelisation developments to lead tosignificant speed-ups.By concentrating on community codes, we will ensure that the exascaledevelopments of the project are of benefit to a wide range of externalusers, in addition to the scientists working on the project itself.