EUFORIA : Grid and high performance computing at the service of fusion modelling

ITER is the next generation of fusion devices and is intended to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion as a sustainable energy source for the future. To exploit the full potential of the device and to guarantee optimal operation for the device a high degree of physics modelling and simulation is needed already in the current construction phase of the ITER project. First principles modelling tools that are needed for an adequate description of the underlying physics cover both a wide range of timescales and spatial orderings and are in general very demanding from a computational point of view. An improved access to computing infrastructures will be instrumental in advancing a pan-European modelling activity for ITER to a very competitive status in relation to the ITER partners. In this paper the main goals and features of the EUFORIA, a grid and high performance computing project in fusion modelling, are presented.