A state-of-the-art supercomputer to study how to generate energy from nuclear fusion: this is the goal of the 50 million euro agreement over 5 years between Enea, the European consortium Eurofusion and Cineca. The supercomputer, capable of performing 47 million billion operations per second, is expected to go into operation at the end of 2023 at the Cineca headquarters in Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna) to simulate the physics of plasma that is generated inside the reactors.
"With this new project, Cineca confirms itself as one of the most important supercomputing centers at international level and the ecosystem of the Bologna Technopole one of the largest concentrations of high-performance computing systems in the world", commented the president of Cineca, Francesco Ubertini. "This agreement - he adds - is the continuation of a collaboration that began in 2016, to extend to the scientific community of nuclear fusion a partition of the Marconi supercomputer".
The new supercomputer enriches the important Italian supercomputing network, which saw in 2020 the entry into service of the Marconi system, among the top 10 in the world, and subsequently of Leonardo, in fourth place in the world.
"To adequately meet the needs of the Eurofusion community, we have developed a technical specification, based on the most modern and innovative computing architectures, to whose development the Enea Department of Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources has contributed decisively, with the Division for the Development of Information Systems and ICT", observes Alessandro Dodaro, director of the Enea Department of Fusion and Technologies for Nuclear Safety and contact person for the agreement for the Agency.
The new supercomputer will be dedicated exclusively to nuclear fusion, a technique still being tested, which uses the same mechanism that takes place inside stars to produce clean energy on Earth in a safe and sustainable way.
To date, the largest international fusion project is Iter, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, at an advanced stage of construction in Franncia, in Cadarache, and which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of producing fusion energy on a commercial scale, integrating the different technologies within a power plant. Italy contributes to the path towards fusion in particular with the DTT (Divertor Tokamak Test) project, the experimental machine under construction at the Enea Research Center in Frascati (Rome) and the RFX consortium.
In Italy a supercomputer for nuclear fusion
2023-06-09T15:52:56.838Z
Highlights: The new supercomputing center will be based in Bologna, Italy. It will be able to perform 47 million operations per second. The project is part of an agreement between Enea and Cineca to develop a new type of nuclear reactor. The new reactor is expected to be operational by the end of 2023. It is the first of its kind in the world and will be used to test new ways of producing electricity. The first reactor will be built in the city of Casalecchio di Reno, near Rome.
A state-of-the-art supercomputer to study how to generate energy from nuclear fusion: this is the goal of the 50 million euro agreement over 5 years between Enea, the European consortium Eurofusion and Cineca. The supercomputer, capable of performing 47 million billion operations per second, is expected to enter into operation at the end of 2023 at the Cineca headquarters in Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna) to simulate the physics of plasma that is generated inside the reactors (ANSA)