The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Zap Energy one million node-hours on two of the world’s fastest supercomputers to advance the company’s fusion plasma models. Zap physicists will use the computers to perform the first flow Z-pinch fusion plasma simulations using the Vlasov kinetic model, a cutting-edge but computationally intensive approach. The allocation, granted through the DOE's ASCR Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) program, includes 800,000 node-hours on Frontier and 200,000 node-hours on Aurora. The systems were ranked second and third, respectively, in the June 2025 TOP500 List of supercomputers.

Plasma — the superheated, ionized form of hydrogen needed to generate fusion energy — remains extraordinarily difficult to accurately simulate. Zap’s fusion plasma configuration, known as a sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch, is very simple and efficient by fusion standards and potentially optimal for a fusion energy source, but requires carefully controlled plasma conditions to reach net energy yields.

Predictive plasma modeling and scientific understanding of plasma instabilities, turbulence, compression and confinement are therefore key to the design of successful fusion energy devices. Multiple methods of plasma simulation have been established, and this project’s focus is on advancing the emerging technique of Vlasov kinetic modeling.

“Standard fluid simulations of plasmas are relatively coarse and represent plasmas across a basic set of conditions like temperature, density and average motion,” explains project lead Noah Reddell, Principal Computational Scientist at Zap. “Vlasov kinetic modeling of Z pinch plasmas enables us to capture the six-dimensional dynamics of plasmas that are far from local thermodynamic equilibrium. This kind of simulation requires a huge number of calculations across many more variables, and is really only possible by accessing specialized systems like the ones the ALCC program provides.”

By studying instabilities and other plasma phenomena in greater detail, the new simulations will inform the underlying physics of flow stabilization and advance performance improvements in Zap’s FuZE Z-pinch devices.

Formally titled “Kinetic plasma model investigation of Z pinch physics at fusion conditions,” the project includes five additional members of Zap’s theory & modeling team: Uri Shumlak, Eric Meier, Peter Stoltz, Iman Datta and Steve Richardson. The supercomputing allocation must be used by June 30, 2026.

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