The Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration are seeking bids on a new series of exascale supercomputers, including one at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that would cost up to $600 million and switch on early next decade, according to a request for proposals released Monday.
Funding for the proposed Livermore system, dubbed “El Capitan,” would come from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Advanced Simulation and Computing program. The program has about a $720 million budget in 2018, of which about $160 million is for the Department of Energy’s exascale computing initiative.
El Capitan would be capable of high-powered computer simulations that help scientists understand how existing nuclear weapons age, and what modifications might be required to prolong the life of these weapons. Proposals are due May 24, according to a procurement note posted online.
“The new system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will be an invaluable tool to ensure the continued safety, security, and effectiveness of the Nation’s nuclear stockpile,” NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a press release from agency headquarters in Washington.
El Capitan is to be delivered in 2021 and operational by 2023, according to the solicitation.
“Nuclear security will demand far more powerful computers to support life extension programs planned for the next decade,” said Mark Anderson, program director for NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program, said in a press release prepared by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
El Capitan is one of three exascale systems covered by the request for proposals released Monday. The other two would be located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. UT-Battelle, the Department of Energy’s prime contractor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is running the procurement.
