Fusion
Nuclear fusion powers the sun and stars. Eventually, it may power our homes and cities. The potential benefits of fusion power are undeniable. Fusion reactors will use fuel that is abundantly available from ocean water, generate power without emitting pollutants and greenhouse gases, and produce far less waste—and waste that is far less dangerous—than current nuclear power plants.
The challenges are also undeniable. Fusion reactors use magnetic fields to contain and control an ionized gas, known as plasma, heated to ten times the temperature of the sun. Ideally emitting more energy than it consumes, the plasma exhibits stability problems both systemwide and at the microscopic scale.
Researchers are using National Center for Computational Sciences supercomputers to overcome the formidable obstacles to practical fusion power, simulating turbulence of these ionic gases that in nature form the surface of the sun. For the first time we can create three-dimensional models to see inside the reactor and manipulate—virtually—the superheated plasma. As researchers succeed, they put us one step closer to a source of power we can use without worrying about its impact on future generations.
Fusion Projects
Verification and Validation of Petascale Simulation of Turbulent Transport in Fusion Plasmas
- PI: Patrick Diamond, University of California, San Diego
- Jaguar: 8,000,000 hours
Fluctuation Spectra and Anomalous Heating in Magnetized Plasma Turbulence
- PI: William Dorland, University of Maryland
- Jaguar: 4,000,000 hours
Gyrokinetic Steady State Transport Simulations
- PI: Jeff Candy, General Atomics
- Jaguar: 1,500,000 hours
High-Power Electromagnetic Wave Heating in the ITER Burning Plasma
- PI: E. Fred Jaeger, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Jaguar: 1,000,000 hours