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ASCI White Detonates The First E-Bomb

Posted by Hemos on from the ka-WHAM dept.

totallygeek writes "Redefining the term vaporware, research scientists at Lost Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Labs detonated two computer simulations. ASCI White, the world's fastest supercomputer, ran the simulations of nuclear explosions. Scientists can now study nuclear weapon replacement components without violating the nuclear test ban, in effect since 1992. Each simulation used more than 6.6 million CPU hours, which would take home machines 1000 years to complete. The data for each experiment was equivalent to 35 times the information available in the Library of Congress. ASCI White currently operates at 12 teraflops, but by early next year, Los Alamos expects to operate at 30 teraflops. The seven month research project ended last Friday, and now the system is ready for use, after its sucessful testing."

2 of 551 comments (clear)

  1. Whoa... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Makes you wonder what the government has that its /not/ telling us about... heh

  2. Rods to the hogshead... by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The data for each experiment was equivalent to 35 times the information available in the Library of Congress.

    The Library of Congress was an interesting comparison back when CD-ROM drives were first becoming popular 10 years ago, and laymen had no clue about the storage capabilities of computers. Now it's just plain stupid.

    Imagine if hard drives were specd in KLOCs - thousands of libraries of congress. :)