[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7058-S7059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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    25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OAK RIDGE LEADERSHIP COMPUTING FACILITY

 Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today we celebrate the 25th 
anniversary of high-performance computing at Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility.
  For a quarter century, Oak Ridge has led the way globally, pushing 
the boundaries of computational performance and continually giving 
scientists more powerful platforms for simulation and discovery at 
every scale--from the smallest building blocks of atoms to the vastness 
of galaxies--in biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, 
cosmology, industrial modeling, nuclear power, and more.
  Using Oak Ridge's computing facility, scientists have expanded the 
scale and scope of their research, solved complex problems in less 
time, and filled critical gaps in scientific knowledge.
  The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility has led the rapid 
evolution of scientific computing that has produced a millionfold 
increase in computing power and has been home to both the first 
teraflop--1 trillion calculations per second--and the first petaflop--1 
quadrillion calculations per second--systems for scientific computing. 
Oak Ridge has twice placed two supercomputing systems at the top of the 
international TOP500 list, where supercomputers are ranked by their 
number-crunching performance.
  Today computer simulation is an essential part of modern science, but 
in 1992, when Oak Ridge established its Center for Computational 
Sciences, which was later renamed the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing 
Facility, not many people thought that the next great center for high-
performance computing would be located in east Tennessee.

[[Page S7059]]

  As I have said many times, this region has one of the most formidable 
concentrations of brainpower anywhere in our country.
  The Department of Energy unleashed that brainpower when, later that 
year, it selected Oak Ridge, along with its partners, three national 
labs and seven universities, to lead one of the Office of Energy 
Research's--now the Office of Science--new high-performance computing 
research centers to serve scientists from national laboratories, 
universities, and private industry.
  Meanwhile, in 2002, Japan introduced its Earth Simulator, which was 
at the time five times more powerful than any other high-performance 
computer in the world.
  I traveled with former Senator Jeff Bingaman to Japan, and we were 
briefed on the significance of Japan's investment in the Earth 
Simulator.
  Japan's development of the Earth Simulator meant that the United 
States no longer was the clear leader in high-performance computing, 
and for the first time, American researchers were looking abroad to 
obtain access to the latest computing tools.
  Senator Bingaman and I made it a priority to recapture the lead in 
high-speed computing by introducing and passing the High-End Computing 
Revitalization Act of 2004.
  This legislation paved the way for Oak Ridge to regain the lead in 
supercomputing. Within a few years, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing 
Facility deployed a supercomputer called Jaguar that would break the 
petaflop barrier--a quadrillion calculations per second--in 2008 and 
take back the top spot on the TOP500 list in 2009.
  For the past 25 years, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility 
has not only been home to some of the world's most powerful computers, 
but it has also been a global leader in the development of software 
applications and tools for scientific research. That is important 
because it is not just about having the fastest computer, it is also 
about having the experts who know how to program and use them.
  Each year, the facility provides computer systems 10 to 100 times 
more powerful than most other computers available for research for the 
lab's own scientists, as well as international teams of scientists 
trying to make breakthroughs on the toughest science challenges.
  Those scientists publish new science discoveries in nearly 500 
research papers per year.
  Beyond basic science, dozens of companies, from small businesses to 
Fortune 500 giants, have used Oak Ridge supercomputers to accelerate 
their own research and development and gain a competitive advantage in 
the global market.
  For example, these high-performance computers have allowed companies 
to develop an add-on for long-haul trucks to optimize airflow, which 
improves fuel mileage by up to 10 percent.
  Other companies were able to use simulations to extend the shelf life 
of consumer products and to analyze combustion in gas turbines to 
improve performance and lower emissions.
  Not only does supercomputing help scientific discoveries and 
companies, supercomputers at our national laboratories can be used by 
Federal agencies as a ``secret weapon'' in the effort to combat issues 
like Medicare and Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse; to find terrorists 
and criminals; and to help the National Institutes of Health find cures 
and treatments for disease.
  Other countries have taken notice of the Oak Ridge Leadership 
Computing Facility's success, tried to duplicate it, and now threaten 
our lead in scientific computing.
  The United States faces a choice between falling behind competitors 
like China or advancing technologies that can make us safer and more 
competitive.
  In the June 2017 ranking of the world's most powerful supercomputers, 
China maintained the top two places, Switzerland was third, and Titan 
at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is the fastest 
supercomputer in the United States, moved down to fourth.
  In 2018, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility will complete 
Summit, which will be more than five times faster than Titan and will 
help researchers better understand materials and nuclear power and 
support more energy breakthroughs.
  The fiscal year 2018 Energy and Water Development Appropriations 
bill, which I wrote with Senator Feinstein, prioritizes supercomputing 
and recommends $150 million for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing 
Facility, as well as $381 million to support the delivery of the first 
exascale machine.
  I am very proud of the men and women from all over the world who have 
come to east Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make the 
Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility a world-leading center for 
computational scientific research.
  I thank them for 25 years of hard work and dedication, and I look 
forward to their continued success answering some of the hardest 
scientific questions.

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