December 13, 2024
A new partnership to power UK fusion powerplants
STFC, IBM and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) join forces to deliver transformative breakthroughs in fusion technology.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree Centre has partnered with IBM and UKAEA, to work on the design of future experimental fusion powerplants.
The collaboration will combine the Hartree Centre and IBM’s expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and extreme scale computing with UKAEA’s data and modelling capabilities. Together, they will create a foundation model capable of learning and underpinning the fundamental dynamics of experimental fusion data.
Computer driven fusion technology
The partnership aims to unite fusion scientists and AI experts from three leading organisations to drive transformative breakthroughs in applying AI to fusion powerplant designs and experimental facility operations.
STFC’s Hartree Centre, located at Sci-Tech Daresbury in the Liverpool City Region, is a leader in advanced computing, data and AI technologies. The centre is renowned for its expertise in high performance computing (HPC), extreme scale computing and scalable AI, and innovation digital solutions.
Partnering with IBM, a pioneer in AI and quantum technologies, this collaboration promises to deliver unparalleled digital expertise and innovation.
UKAEA is a global leader in fusion energy science and technology and the UK’s national organisation responsible for researching and delivering fusion energy.
They will contribute domain expertise and selected data from its Joint European Torus and Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade machines in accordance with applicable data sharing agreements to the collaboration.
This new partnership will combine AI and supercomputing technologies from the Hartree Centre and IBM with UKAEA’s data and modelling capabilities, affording new capabilities that can feed into various fusion applications.
A low-carbon resolution
Fusion is a natural process that powers the sun and other stars. Delivering the first fusion powerplant has been referred to as a great challenge, requiring collaboration across a broad range of technical disciplines.
To date, the approach for designing and developing complex fusion machines has been through ‘test-based design’, however, this is a timely and expensive process. Therefore, it is essential that the fusion sector adopts the latest digital technologies, moving towards data-centric engineering to accelerate and de-risk the delivery of commercial fusion power.
This collaboration will use AI and exascale computing alongside advanced fusion technologies to contribute to ongoing efforts in paving a way for a low-carbon future.
The future of fusion
The unique collaboration of fusion scientists and AI experts across the three organisations, will be able to deliver transformative breakthroughs in the application of AI technology to fusion powerplant design and experiment or facility operations, supporting a growing fusion sector in the UK.
Vassil Alexandrov, Chief Science Officer, STFC Hartree Centre, said:
I am very pleased that, thanks to our well-established collaborations with both IBM and UKAEA, we can now come together to address a key grand challenge and advance state-of-the-art in modelling and simulation of fusion powerplants, thereby supporting the UK’s ambition to become a global leader in clean energy innovation.
A powerful force for progress
Juan Bernabe-Moreno, Director IBM Research Europe, UK and Ireland, added:
I am especially excited to see our team exploring together with the UKAEA and the Hartree Centre experts how we can use generative AI technologies to approach one of the most challenging problems of our time. It is certainly a testament to the kind of research we are driving in the UK for the greater good.
Rob Akers, Director of Computing Programmes, UKAEA, commented:
I am delighted that we are joining forces with IBM and STFC’s Hartree Centre to work on our ambitious programme to deliver commercial fusion in the 2040’s by exploiting the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence.
IBM’s heritage in complex systems engineering and supercomputing and the Hartree Centre’s expertise in democratising HPC and AI into the engineering sector, combined with UKAEA’s leading research and development in fusion energy will be a powerful force for progress in this hugely important field.
