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Part 1 of 2 Parts
       Today, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced the signing of contracts with Cray Inc. to build a new supercomputer for the NNSA. The new supercomputer is called “El Capitan.” It will be an exascale computer which means that it will be able to carry out over one and half exaflops. (One exaflop means that the computer can execute a quintillion calculating per second.) The cost of the computer will be about six hundred million dollars. It will be delivered in late 2022.
       El Capitan will feature a number of advanced artificial intelligence capabilities that can run simulations and modeling as well as administrative tasks. It is based on the new Shasta Architecture developed by Cray. It is hoped the new computer will be able to run fifty times faster than the national nuclear security Sequoia computer system. El Capitan is expected to run up to ten times faster than the Sierra computer system at LLNL which is currently the second most powerful supercomputer in the world. El Capitan should be much more energy efficient than the Sierra system. El Capitan will provide computer services to the NNSA Tri-Laboratory group which includes Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. 
      The El Capitan will be the third supercomputer purchased from Cray by the DoE. It will join Argonne National Laboratory’s “Aurora” and Oak Ridge National Laboratory “Frontier” systems. All three will be constructed based on the Cray Shasta architecture, Slingshot interconnect and new software platform.
      Rick Perry is the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He said, “The Department of Energy is the world leader in supercomputing and El Capitan is a critical addition to our next-generation systems. El Capitan’s advanced capabilities for modeling, simulation and artificial intelligence will help push America’s competitive edge in energy and national security, allow us to ask tougher questions, solve greater challenges and develop better solutions for generations to come.” 
   El Capitan will provide computer services for the mission of the NNSA. It will carry out essential functions for the Stockpile Stewardship Program. This federal project supports U.S. national security missions through cutting-edge scientific, engineering and technical tools and expertise. It will ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. This is a critical mission because the U.S. is bound by treaty not to carry out actual nuclear testing. El Capitan will be utilized to carry out critical assessments that are needed to address developing threats to national security. Other uses for the supercomputer include nonproliferation and nuclear counter terrorism.
     Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty is the DoE under secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA administrator.  She said, “NNSA is modernizing the Nuclear Security Enterprise to face 21st-century. El Capitan will allow us to be more responsive, innovative and forward-thinking when it comes to maintaining a nuclear deterrent that is second to none in a rapidly evolving threat environment.”
    The Cray Shasta exascale system makes use of a heterogeneous Central Processing Unit (CPU)/Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) architecture. This will permit researchers to run 3D simulations at resolutions far beyond current computers. It will run ensembles of 3D calculations at resolutions that are difficult or impossible with current supercomputers. 3D simulations are becoming necessary to satisfy the demands of the NNSA Life Extension Programs (LEP) and address issues of aging of nuclear warheads for which there is no nuclear test data.
Please read Part 2 next.