Scientific Discovery in Fusion Plasma Turbulence Simulations at Extreme Scale

The primary goal of the extreme-scale plasma turbulence studies described in this article is to gain new insights on confinement scaling in magnetic fusion systems by using powerful, world-class supercomputers to carry out simulations with unprecedented resolution and temporal duration. New insights have been gained on the key question of how the turbulent transport of thermal energy and particles in the plasma and the associated confinement scale from present-generation devices to much larger ITER-size plasmas. In particular, new results from large-scale simulation studies have demonstrated that improvement in confinement as devices grow larger is far more gradual, with significantly lower loss rates than less-powerful computer simulations have indicated in research carried out over the past decade.