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Scientists at General Atomics (GA) are leading a new multi-institution initiative to create a standardized, national data platform designed to accelerate development of commercial fusion power. The data platform will unite scattered research data and workflows into a single U.S. resource and positively transform how scientists approach fusion energy breakthroughs. The project is called FEDER — short for Fusion Energy Data Ecosystem and Repository — and is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fusion Innovative Research Engine (FIRE) Collaborative.

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego is a key player in this national effort to create a unified data system for fusion energy research. The multimillion-dollar initiative has been designed to fast-track fusion development, support American innovation and bolster U.S. leadership in the energy sector. The effort expands upon longstanding collaborations between GA and UC San Diego to strengthen the San Diego region’s national leadership in the global race to achieve practical fusion.

“Our ultimate mission with FEDER is to continue advancing fusion energy research and development into a safe and reliable resource for the American people,” said SDSC Director Frank Würthwein. “To achieve this, SDSC will be working on the team to integrate already available platforms and workflows to connect existing fusion energy datasets and achieve the DOE’s ultimate vision of building a fusion pilot plant by the 2040s.”

FEDER’s specific goal is to create a shared, standardized platform that links experimental results, simulation outputs and workflows from national laboratories, academic institutions and industry — turning today’s disconnected datasets and workflows into a unified community resource that speeds up discovery and brings commercial fusion power closer to reality.

“Fusion research advances fastest when data flows freely and securely rather than remains trapped in isolated silos, proprietary formats, and disconnected analysis tools,” said Raffi Nazikian, director of the Fusion Data Science Division at General Atomics. “FEDER will break down barriers between institutions and disciplines, integrating datasets, computational models and research workflows. We will be able to capture each new result and underlying workflow in FEDER’s living data commons and make them available for immediate reuse in the next experiment or simulation.”

In addition to SDSC, which is part of UC San Diego’s School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences, FEDER brings together a coalition of additional institutions: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, University of California Los Angeles and West Virginia University. The multi-institutional team, which includes specialists in plasma physics, fusion engineering, materials science and high-performance computing, will work in tandem with other FIRE Collaboratives and research teams across the country to build a community-driven platform that standardizes data practices and workflows — giving researchers seamless access to experimental results, simulation datasets and proven analysis workflows.

“FEDER is an important step toward turning today’s scattered fusion datasets into a unified resource for realizing the full potential of fusion energy,” said Tom Gibbs, developer relations lead for NVIDIA. “By making siloed data readily accessible and linking it with resources such as National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) and the DOE Integrated Research Infrastructure, the research community can develop the advanced AI models needed for full-scale digital twins that will support the emerging commercial ecosystem.”

In addition to improving reproducibility, transparency and interdisciplinary collaboration, FEDER will integrate cutting-edge platforms — including the Fusion Data Platform, Open Science Data Federation and the National Data Platform — into a powerful, user-friendly service.

“We already have the building blocks. Now it’s time to connect them,” said Ilkay Altintas, chief data science officer at SDSC. “Within the first year, FEDER will weave these tools together and offer an accessible, scalable service that will grow into a lasting national resource.”

The building blocks referred to by Altintas include the recently established Fusion Data Science and Digital Engineering Center in San Diego, which was announced earlier this year. The center is a collaborative effort between GA and UC San Diego. At UC San Diego, it is part of the campus’ Fusion Engineering Institute. This center enables deeper collaborations between GA and UC San Diego in advanced digital engineering, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and high-performance computing (HPC) as part of a multi-step effort to fast-track fusion energy development while reinforcing the nation’s leadership in fusion research and innovation.

An additional DOE-funded FIRE project at UC San Diego is the Target Injector Nexus for Experimental Development (TINEX). The TINEX team will work closely with the FEDER team on both the technical aspects of the research as well as workforce development efforts — ensuring that there is an adequate workforce properly trained to run fusion power plants. The UC San Diego portion of the TINEX project is led by mechanical engineering professor Farhat Beg, who is co-director of the UC San Diego Fusion Engineering Institute.

From its San Diego headquarters, GA has been a trailblazer in fusion science and engineering for five decades. The company operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility — the only tokamak currently operating in the United States — and collaborates with scientists and engineers from around the world on solutions to make fusion power a reality.

About General Atomics

Since the dawn of the atomic age, GA’s innovations have advanced the state of the art across the full spectrum of science and technology — from nuclear energy and defense to medicine and high-performance computing. Behind a talented global team of scientists, engineers, and professionals, GA’s unique experience and capabilities continue to deliver safe, sustainable, economical, and innovative solutions to meet growing global demands. For more information on GA’s fusion energy research, visit ga.com/energy-systems-and-products.

About San Diego Supercomputer Center

SDSC has been serving the national scientific community since 1985 when it was established as one of the first supercomputer centers in the U.S. created to meet the growing demand for academic computational resources. SDSC is one of the two foundational pillars of UC San Diego’s School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences.The mission of SDSC is to advance the frontiers of science, technology, education and society through innovations in data and computing. Its vision is to be a global leader in delivering integrated data and computing solutions that enable translational research, diverse partnerships and talent development.