Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/J004839/1
Title:	G8 Multilateral Research Funding Nu-FuSE
Principal Investigator:	Ackland, Professor GJ
Other Investigators:	Trew, Professor AS
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Physics and Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Edinburgh
Scheme:	Standard Research
Starts:	04 April 2011	Ends:	30 September 2014	Value (£):	395,303
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	High Performance Computing
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The primary focus of fusion energy research over the past decades has been on magnetic confinement devices called tokamaks. The UK's JET facility is currently the largest tokamak in the world but will be surpassed by the international ITER device, now under construction in France. Providing computational resources in support of ITER is a dedicated High Performance Computer for Fusion (HPC-FF) at Jülich, Germany, which will soon be expanded at Rokkasho, Japan in the International Fusion Energy Research Center within the ``broader approach" framework between Japan and the EU. Operation is planned to start in 2012. Simulation is required in three principal areas: plasma physics, the powerful controlling plasma-solid interaction/interface, and materials science. We have constructed a consortium involving six countries (France, Germany, Japan, Russia, UK and USA) with expertise in all three of these applications domains as well as the underpinning computational science techniques. We propose to use these skills to undertake an integrated research programme focussed on investigating the scaling of key codes which have relevance for providing experimentally validated predictive capabilities for magnetic fusion systems. On the path towards an economical magnetic confinement fusion reactor integrated numerical models can speed up technological but also physical progress, even mitigating possible bottlenecks. Our proposal concentrates on codes for three scientific areas, the plasma itself, the materials from which a reactor will be built, and the physics of the plasma edge. Previous research on materials and plasmas has been conducted independently, and a key aspect of the proposal is to ensure that scientists working in these areas are well versed in all the issues affecting putative devices. We will train a cohort of young scientists who are genuinely expert in "Fusion Energy", as opposed to the current division of expertise between plasma physicists, reactor engineers and materials scientists. This group will comprise both the researchers paid for by the project, and the 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 fusion energy device. The collaborative training courses will ensure that expertise in one area is matched by an understanding of the other. Particularly in materials science, researchers are using codes developed to treat a wide range of materials. The issues relevant for fusion are more specific, and there is plenty of scope for both algorithmic and parallelisation developments to lead to significant speed-ups. By concentrating on community codes, we will ensure that the exascale developments of the project are of benefit to a wide range of external users, in addition to the scientists working on the project itself.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Organisation Website:	http://www.ed.ac.uk