Scientists at General Atomics (GA) will be leading a multi-institutional initiative to create a unified data system for fusion energy research in the US. The Fusion Energy Data Ecosystem and Repository (FEDER) will be funded through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Fusion Innovative Research Engine (FIRE) Collaborative. This is a multimillion-dollar initiative designed to fast-track fusion development, support American innovation and bolster US leadership in the energy sector.
Researchers plan to use FEDER to create a shared, standardised platform that links experimental results, simulation outputs and workflows from national laboratories, universities and private companies, turning disconnected datasets and workflows into a unified community resource.
“Fusion research advances fastest when data flows freely and securely rather than remain trapped in isolated silos, proprietary formats, and disconnected analysis tools,” said Dr Raffi Nazikian, director of Fusion Data Science 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 new data in FEDER’s living commons and make them available for immediate reuse in the next experiment or simulation.”
Joining GA in the FEDER initiative is a coalition of leading institutions: the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego; 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. Their experts in plasma physics, fusion engineering, materials science and high-performance computing will collaborate with other FIRE collaboratives and research teams to build the new platform.
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.
“FEDER is an important step toward turning today’s scattered fusion datasets into a unified resource for realising the full potential of fusion energy,” said Tom Gibbs, developer relations lead for AI infrastructure developer NVIDIA. “By making siloed data readily accessible and linking it with resources such as National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource 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.”
Dr Ilkay Altintas, Chief Data Science Officer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, noted: “We already have the building blocks. Now it’s time to connect them. Within the first year, FEDER will weave these tools together and offer an accessible, scalable service that will grow into a lasting national resource.”
At its San Diego headquarters, General Atomics scientists and engineers collaborate with teams worldwide to solve the scientific challenges of fusion energy. It also operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, the US Department of Energy’s largest magnetic fusion research facility and the only US operational tokamak.
