Energy Dept. labs to spend $425M for supercomputers

The Department of Energy (DOE) said it is spending $425 million on two programs to install state-of-the-art supercomputers at national labs.

The bulk of the funding, $325 million, will go to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Illinois for each to acquire a supercomputer five to seven times more powerful than what is currently the best U.S. computer.

{mosads}The United States, Japan and China have long battled to have the fastest supercomputer, and officials said the United States will again pull ahead by the time these machines are operational in 2017.

Another $100 million will go to a longer-term program known as Fast Forward 2 to fund even faster computers.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz headed to Capitol Hill Friday to announce the awards with members of Congress who represent the Tennessee and Illinois labs.

“High-performance computing is an essential component of the science and technology portfolio required to maintain U.S. competitiveness and ensure and ensure our economic and national security,” Moniz said.

While DOE supercomputers are used for a wide range of purposes, Moniz highlighted a few essential roles they play: nuclear weapon security and energy development.

He also said every drug that goes through federal clinical trials uses DOE supercomputers during the trials. They also play a role for complex modeling, material sciences, biology and other purposes.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is a top proponent of the DOE labs, since Oak Ridge is one the most well-known national labs. He spoke at the Friday event.

“Once again, the world’s fastest computer will be in the United States, and once again it will be at Oak Ridge,” Alexander said in a statement.

“Supercomputing is essential to U.S. competitiveness in science and technology, and I’m proud our national lab in Tennessee is helping advance scientific research to improve America’s economic and national security,” he said.

Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.) also came to the Friday event.