New £45 million supercomputer to support UK fusion research

The UK government has announced plans to invest £45 million to build a supercomputer designed to support nuclear fusion research.

The 1.4 MW facility, named Sunrise, will be located at the UK’s first AI Growth Zone at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Campus in Oxfordshire.

It will deliver up to 6.76 Exaflops of AI-accelerated modeling, with the aim of enabling high-fidelity simulations and creating digital twins for complex systems.

"UKAEA is taking lessons from the Apollo programme: we learn fastest when we can test, iterate, and improve safely in the virtual world before we commit to our real-world mission," said Rob Akers, UKAEA’s director for computing programmes.

"Sunrise will bring that capability to fusion by combining high-fidelity simulation with physics-informed AI to develop predictive digital twins that reduce the cost, risk and time of learning that would otherwise require expensive and time-consuming physical testing."

What will Sunrise be used for?

The aim is to tackle key fusion energy challenges in areas such as plasma turbulence, materials development, and tritium fuel breeding, while delivering additional benefits to other clean energy technologies and the UK’s broader net zero ambitions.

The supercomputer will be used within several UK fusion initiatives, including the Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation (LIBRTI) program, which is developing tritium fuel-cycle technologies for self-sufficiency in future fusion operations.

It's also crucial for STEP Fusion, the UK’s flagship initiative to demonstrate fusion energy as soon as the 2040s – which the government claims will make the UK the first country in the world with a clear path to commercial fusion that could ensure lasting energy security.

"With Sunrise, the UK will have a powerful new capability to rapidly and accurately simulate plasma behaviour and fusion conditions, helping researchers advance the development of stable, efficient and economically viable fusion energy," said Thomas Zacharia, SVP, strategy and development, public sector, AMD.

"Sunrise brings together AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct GPU acceleration, purpose-built on the Dell PowerEdge platform, to deliver breakthrough AI and high-performance computing for the UK fusion community, and supporting the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero as it moves fusion from research toward practical impact."

According to the government, Sunrise is set to be the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer dedicated to fusion energy, and is scheduled to come into operation this June.

"We can be proud that Britain will lead the way on research, innovation and skills for a future of limitless fusion energy," said minister for science, innovation, research and nuclear Lord Vallance.

"By backing our fusion industry, we are not only securing our future energy independence, but from innovation and research to engineers, we are also providing the skilled clean energy jobs of the future for British people."

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