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Stephen Streiffer

Stephen Streiffer

Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Apr 9, 2026

21:07
So I think I packed a lot into that question, but help us understand this a little bit better.
21:13
Yeah, let me break the question into two parts.
21:15
I think there is the purpose of ITER and then there, as you're very correctly pointing out, the allocation of very scarce dollars within the United States research and development ecosystem.
21:29
So getting back to the purpose of ITER.
21:31
So the real purpose of ITER is actually the science of the sustained burning plasma.
21:38
And if you look at the way that ITER is being designed, one of the reasons it's expensive is because it's large.
21:45
And one of the reasons it's large is that you want to minimize the heat flux on the walls so that you have materials that we can make today that will survive those sorts of extreme environments.

18 MINS LATER

40:21
What can this computer do that others cannot? And since you also referred to AI, how does all of this relate to the so-called DOE Genesis mission, maybe say what that is, and how does Oak Ridge and Frontier contribute to this whole effort?

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