In Toki, Japan, the Large Helical Device (LHD) at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) has achieved a new world record by generating approximately 0.92 terabytes (TB) of data per experiment. This is the closest amount of data generation to ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which is expected to produce nearly 1 TB of data per experiment in a decade. In a major milestone, all LHD experiment data is now available on the "cloud" through Amazon Web Services (AWS) Simple Storage Service (S3).

Following the adoption of "Open Science" by G7 countries in 2023, NIFS established its Open Access and Research Data policies in February and October 2022. Since 2023, all data from LHD experiments has been immediately accessible to the public after acquisition and analysis completion. The computing program source codes for data analysis are also openly available, aligning with the FAIR principles.

To facilitate faster and easier data analysis due to the large number and size of individual data, NIFS has joined the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program and transferred approximately 2 petabytes of LHD experiment data to AWS's cloud storage, Amazon S3. This move allows users to access a computing environment with a suite of data analysis programs, simplifying data analysis and promoting extensive data utilization.

The open LHD data is available to the public and industries around the world, even for those without prior understanding of LHD experiment data. This initiative aims to universalize fusion energy research. NIFS views the AWS program as a reliable, uninterrupted data service that is not dependent on network capabilities and systems. The open data is expected to encourage participation in fusion energy research and development by industries and newcomers from other countries.

In the future, NIFS plans to register approximately 40 million LHD data with DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to enhance their findability and accessibility. This process will take several years due to the large number of data entities.

The results will be presented at the 14th IAEA Technical Meeting on Control Systems, Data Acquisition, Data Management, and Remote Participation in Fusion Research, which is scheduled from July 15 to July 19, 2024, in São Paulo, Brazil. AWS Japan Country Leader for AWS Worldwide Public Sector, Ushio Usami, expressed hope that the open data would be beneficial in various scientific fields worldwide and drive technological innovation in different industries. Dr. Keiichi Nakano, Chief Researcher at the National Institute of Informatics (NII), also emphasized the importance of the NII Research Data Cloud (NII RDC) for the global implementation of Open Science.