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Nuclear Energy – Supercomputer speeds
path forward

By using graphic processing units in a test bed for the Titan
supercomputer, researchers have more than tripled the speed of a
code designed to improve efficiency, longevity and safety of
nuclear reactors. The algorithm, dubbed Denovo, sweeps through a
virtual reactor to track the location of radioactive particles.
When run on graphics processing units, Denovo ran 3.5 times faster
than what was possible with ORNL’s Jaguar, which uses only central
processing units. With this increase, 3D simulations are now within
reach, said Tom Evans, who led the Denovo development team. Titan
is a GPU/CPU hybrid to be installed over the next several months.
This research supports the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of
Light Water Reactors (http://www.casl.gov/).