A team of four at CCSE, JAEA (Center for Computational Science and Systems, Japan Atomic Energy Agency; Yuichi Tonozuka, President), led by principal scientist Norihiro Nakajima, was awarded an "Honorable Mention" recognition on November 17, 2005 in the HPC Analytics Challenge within SC|05 (Supercomputing Conference 2005) held in Seattle, WA, USA. SC is the largest international conference on high performance computing, networking and storage and has been held annually in the USA.

They are currently developing a simulation technology to track the deformation and vibration behavior of an entire nuclear power plant under large seismic events using a virtual earthquake testbed placed inside the supercomputers. In order to accurately describe the response of the nuclear power plant structure from the numerical perspective, it is necessary to consider the interactions and interdependencies among the components making it up under various connections. Since the structure is made up of enormous number of components, parts and equipments, it is impossible for a single supercomputer to process this type of numerical simulation. In order to overcome this challenge, the team proposed a new approach and methodology for connecting numerous components and parts. Then, the team implemented a simulation program based on this connection approach on the ITBL^*3 grid computing environment^*2 to solve large-scale problems in a given practical time. This was applied to the numerical simulation of a reactor and its cooling system from the high-temperature gas reactor called the High Temperature engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) located in Oarai R&D Center, JAEA. As a result, the team saw a possibility in achieving a numerical simulation of an entire nuclear power plant in full-scale. The preliminary result was applied for the HPC Analytics Challenge competition in SC|05 and was internationally recognized.

*1 SC|05(SC2005)
SC (Supercomputing Conference) is the international conference on high performance computing, networking and storage, and is held annually in the USA. This year was the 18th conference. Within the conference, the major venders and governmental research organizations from all over the world set up their own booths and widely exhibit their work to the public. Academic presentations are also held. Thousands of scholars and engineers gather from all over the world and is considered as the premier conference in this domain. This year is the 8th year for CCSE to participate in this conference.

*2 Grid Computing Environment
A system which connects multiple computers through the network while hiding this connection from the users.

*3 ITBL
It is an acronym for the Information Technology Based Laboratory. This is a project which challenges to realize a virtual research environment on the network through information technology. It aims to construct an environment to organically connect various supercomputers located in domestic research institutes through large capacity networks and to promote the use of this environment. The project has been conducted by the following 6 institutes from year 2001 to 2005; National Institute for Material Sciences, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, RIKEN, Japan Science and Technology Agency.