Researchers at the National Institute of Fusion Science (NIFS) succeeded for the first time in the world in conducting a micro-level simulation of a plasma blob in the “edge region” of the plasma. This simulation ran on the Plasma Simulator supercomputer, which is dedicated exclusively to plasma and fusion science use.
Last 23rd December, our group had the opportunity to attend the presentation of the new supercomputer that will be installed at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). The event counted with the participation of the companies that collaborate in the start-up of the new machine: IBM, Intel, Lenovo and Fujitsu.
A key computing system for the ITER international fusion device has been installed in the JET tokamak and is now being validated on an operational fusion experiment ahead of ITER’s start-up in 2025.
This computing system is the ITER synchronous databus network and it is a core part of the plasma control system. It consists of “a high performance software/hardware stack for interconnecting diagnostic and control systems on a tokamak”, Adam Stephen, CODAS project manager at Culham, explains.
Researchers from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratories (PPPL) presented first results from the research on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) at the 26th International Atomic Energy Agency Conference (IAEA) in Kyoto, Japan.
The upgrade finished in May 2016 made the NSTX-U the most powerful fusion facility of its kind, since it doubled the magnetic field strength, plasma current and heating power capability of the predecessor facility. To achieve this the central stack (solenoid) was widened.
Researchers working at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility at General Atomics (GA), in collaboration with scientists from University of California-Irvine and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, have created an important new tool for controlling energy-producing plasma in fusion devices. This work will be published in the January 2017 edition of Nuclear Fusion.
