Broader Approach supercomputer Procurement Arrangement signed

Today, the Procurement Arrangement (PA) for the supply of the supercomputer and peripheral equipment for the IFERC Project (CSC Activity) has been signed by F4E Director Frank Briscoe and Hiromasa Ninomiya, Director General for Fusion at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in Rokkasho, Japan. This PA concerns a supercomputer centre for a value of around €63m which will be provided by Europe. The supercomputer, which will represent a large improvement on present day processing power available for fusion applications, will run development codes to simulate the behaviour of plasma in the ITER machine as well as other fusion machines. Furthermore, the supercomputer will also be used for the development of the fusion reactors after ITER, for instance by modelling the behaviour of materials in reactor conditions. Scheduled to start running on 1 January 2012, the supercomputer will operate for five years.

Yesterday (27 April), a ceremony was held to inaugurate of the IFERC (International Fusion Research Centre) and the completion of the buildings (the Administration & Research building, the IFMIF/EVEDA Prototype Accelerator building, the CSC/REC building, the DEMO R&D building) at the Broader Approach site in Rokkasho. A number of high-level representatives from JAEA, the Japanese national and local authorities and the European Commission attended the event.

The CSC/REC Building will be used to install the supercomputer with all its peripherals and the equipment of the Remote Experimentation Centre, including a very large data storage facility.

The Broader Approach agreement between the EU and Japan in the field of fusion energy partnership lasts for 10 years and represents about €340m of European investment. It aims to complement the ITER project and accelerate the realisation of fusion energy by carrying out R&D and developing advanced technologies for the future demonstration fusion power reactor DEMO. The resources for the implementation of Broader Approach mainly consist of in kind and financial contributions from the parties to the Agreement. The European contributions are largely provided on a voluntary basis by EU Member States and channelled through Fusion for Energy.

F4E Director Frank Briscoe and Hiromasa Ninomiya, Director General for Fusion at JAEA, signs the PA for the supply of the supercomputer and peripheral equipment for the IFERC Project.