DOE details upcoming ATS-5 supercomputer

The Department of Energy (DOE) has released details about an incoming supercomputer dubbed ATS-5. This system will replace the 30 petaflops ATS-3 Crossroads machine which the DOE said is “nearing the end of its useful lifetime.” While no information about the compute power of the ATS-5 has been released, the DOE has described the system as the “first post-exascale NNSA system.”

The DOE notes that the primary purpose of ATS-5 is to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) efforts to maintain nuclear stockpiles by tackling “some of the largest-scale 3D simulation workloads.” Several architectural advancements will be baked into the design of the ATS-5 system to help meet the project’s goals. These include improvements to memory bandwidth performance, increased efficiency, and architectural diversity.

“Achieving these goals will enable weapons designers, analysts, and computational scientists to make more routine use of today’s hero-class simulations in support of the stockpile stewardship certification and assessments to ensure that the Nation’s nuclear stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable,” said a statement on the Los Alamos National Lab’s website.