S-R3-2
Outline of the IFERC-CSC Activity
IFERC-CSC活動の概要
Yasutomo Ishii
石井康友
Japan Atomic Energy Agency
2-166, Omotedate, Obuchi, Rokkasho-mura, Kamikita-gun, Aomori, 039-3212, Japan
日本原子力研究開発機構 〒039-3212 青森県上北郡六ヶ所村大字尾駮字表舘2番166
International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC) project has been started on 1st July 2007. The
Computational Simulation Centre (CSC) is the one of three IFERC sub projects. The mission ofIFERC-CSC is to exploit large-scale and high performance fusion simulations. For performing such themission, the supercomputer with a peak performance of 1.3 PF will be installed in IFERC site at Rokkasho,
Japan before January 2012. After the lighthouse projects and test runs until 31st March 2012, the normal
operation will start from 1st April 2012 to 31st December 2016.

1. Schedule and high performance computing
system of the IFERC-CSC
Based on the agreement between JA and EU for
the Broader Approach activities in the field offusion energy research (BA), IFERC project has
been started on 1st July 2007. The International
Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC) project
consists of three sub projects; DEMO R&D anddesign, Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) andComputational Simulation Centre (CSC). Objectiveof the IFERC-CSC is to provide for JA and EU
scientists a high performance computing system forlarge scale simulation activities on magnetic
confinement fusion plasma, prepare scenarios for
ITER operation, predict the performance of theITER facilities and contribute to DEMO design.
The CSC activity is divided into two phases(table I). The first phase is the preparation andprocurement phase, which is from 2007 to 2011.
The second phase is the operation phase, which isfrom 2012 to 2016. Until the end of 2011, the highperformance computing system (HPC) will be
installed for the CSC in the IFERC site at Rokkasho,
Japan.

Table I. Schedule of the IFERC-CSC and related
working groups

The HPC and peripheral equipments are procured
by F4E (Fusion for Energy), which is the EU
implementing agency, and F4E has selected Bull
SAS (France) as the computer vendor for the CSC

HPC. The CSC HPC will equip Intel Sandy-Bridge
EP (8 cores) and consists of 8820 processers and70560 cores, and available memory is 256TB. Theinterconnection network is Infiniband IB QDR,
non-blocking. Topology is fat-tree and theconnection
socketisPCIExpress
gen3,
bi-directional. The peak performance of the CSC
HPC will be 1.3 Peta flop/s.
The IFERC-CSC will start operation from January
2012. From January to March 2012, the CSC-HPC
will be used only for the lighthouse project. The
purposes of the lighthouse project are to show bothoutstanding level of the simulation researches in themagnetic confinement fusion and high performanceof IFERC-CSC supercomputer system and to show
the possibility that the fusion simulations could
exploit a new research field or a frontier research inmagnetic confinement fusion by using the CSC
HPC. For these purposes, some benchmark codes,
which have been used for selecting the HPC for theIFERC-CSC, will be used for the lighthouseprojects. From April 1st 2012, the CSC HPC will
start normal operation and be used by JA and EU
scientists after selecting proposed projects by thestanding committee (StC).
2. Scope of simulations in IFERC-CSC
The CSC HPC is optimised for high performancecomputation. Simulation research in the IFERC
CSC will be performed in the field of magnetic
confinement fusion, which may include among
other subjects core microscopic phenomena, coremacroscopic phenomena, integrated modelling,
reactor materials, and reactor technology. Therefore,
projects shall be relevant to fusion development(ITER & BA) in the field of magnetic confinement
and primarily deal with numerical simulations inthe following areas:Plasma turbulence,
Fast particle physics,
Linear, Nonlinear and/or extended MHD,
Edge physics,
Heating and current drive,Integrated modelling,
Reactor materials,
Reactor technology,
in order to analyze experimental data on fusion
plasmas, to prepare scenarios for ITER operation, topredict the performance of the ITER facilities, andto contribute to the DEMO design physics basis andto BA activities.

operation is December 1st 2011. After the deadline,
the StC will start the international peer review for
proposed research projects. Only proposals, which
are technically fit for the CSC HPC, requiring
exceptional computational resources will be kept
while the final selection will be made according to
the scientific and technical merit of the proposals
taking into account the following criteria:(1) Scientific excellence including innovation
potential (40%)(2) Relevance to fusion development (ITER &BA) (40%)(3) EU/JA collaborative aspects (10%)(4) Efficient usage of the super computer (10%).

3. Organization of the IFERC-CSC
JA and EU IAs provide resources such as asupercomputer, professional and technical staff etc.
in order to organize and operate the IFER-CSC.
Based on these contributions, the IFERC project
team will operate the IFERC-CSC. The CSC HPC
and peripheral equipments are operated andmaintained by the vendor team under the contract
between F4E and Bull. JAEA as the JA implement
agency dispatches the user support team including
functions of the general user support and thegeneral programming support. These teams aremanaged by the CSC leader and the CSC sub leader
under the supervision of the IFERC project leader.
The CSC leader and sub leader have been
dispatched from F4E and JAEA respectively andstarted preparatory works from the summer in 2011
in the IFERC site at Rokkasho, Japan.

Based on the result of this peer review, the StC
will allocate the computer resource of the CSC
HPC to selected research projects by the middle ofFebruary 2012. In parallel with the selection
process by the StC, JA and EU IAs will checkeligibility of all applicants from the BA agreement
point of view and also from the security point ofview. Therefore, any applicant has to get resource
allocation by the StC and also be permitted byboth IAs in order to access to the CSC HPC.

4. Selection of proposed projects for using theIFERC-CSC
The computer resource of the CSC HPC will beallocated to selected research projects proposed by
JA and EU scientists. Selection rule and procedure
for these proposed research projects have been
already established by the special working group 2(SWG-2). According to these rule and procedure,
the Standing Committee for the IFERC-CSC (StC),
which has been established in October 2011, will
select research projects and allocate the computerresource of the CSC HPC to those. Based on thecomputer resource allocation decided by the StC,
the IFERC-CSC will operate the CSC HPC. The
StC consists of 5 JA members and 5 EU ones.
The schedule to allocate the computer resource
for the 1st operation cycle of the CSC HPC is asfollows. Application forms have been alreadyopen to the public from October 1st 2011 at theIFERC website (www.ifrec.org). The deadline forapplication forms for the 1st cycle of the CSC HPC