IBM, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Cleveland Clinic performed the first-known quantum computer calculations for a critical fusion energy material. The team modeled nine molecular configurations of FLiBe, a salt mixture essential for breeding tritium fuel.
The initiative supports the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission to address tritium supply shortages for future fusion power plants. This quantum-centric supercomputing approach integrates quantum, AI, and classical high-performance computing to improve modeling accuracy.
The project aims to create a workflow for the fusion energy ecosystem to design and verify tritium-breeding materials. This development targets a significant technical barrier to achieving scalable fusion energy.