We are happy to announce that IMAS-Python (formerly known as IMASPy) version 2.0.0 was released this week! This version includes the rename from imaspy to imas, reflecting that it has become the main way to interact with the ITER’s IMAS infrastructure from the Python programming language. It is also the first major version that is publicly available under the LGPL-3.0 license, and can be installed from PyPI.

The international organisation ITER is building the largest tokamak in the world in France. This ‘big science’ project aims to prove useful power generation with nuclear fusion. This multi-billion USD project, built by partners in 35 nations, is one of the most complex machines ever built. Predictive modelling of this massive machine requires the coupling of many simulation tools and is a major challenge.

IMAS-Python is a pure Python library for working with IDS data structures from the IMAS Data Dictionary. This allows for a standardized data exchange between different programs used for simulations and analysis of experimental data. We have previously written about IMASPy on this site. Since then, we have worked with ITER Organization to add many features to improve the usability, performance and utility of IMAS-Python.

This new release marks a transformative moment, where IMAS-Python has surpassed the original Python IMAS interface in terms of functionality and performance and is ready to be the main Python IMAS interface. It is also one of the first ITER projects that has been released under the open-source LGPL-3.0 license on GitHub. This makes the software more accessible and easier to install. We are very happy with this decision by the ITER Organization: making the tools required for research and collaboration openly available will accelarate reaching the goal of useful power generation with nuclear fusion!

IMAS-Python can be downloaded and installed from PyPI. You can read the documentation on ReadTheDocs and view its source code on GitHub.

Although IMAS-Python is now open sourced, the core Access Layer component (imas_core) is not (yet) publicly available. This means that some functionality is disabled, but sharing data can still be done through the recently added netCDF file interface when the netCDF4 Python package is installed.

If you would like to hear more about this project feel free to get in touch!

The opinions expressed in this article are those of Ignition Computing only and do not represent the ITER Organization’s official position.