US Pens $200 Million Deal For Massive Nuclear Security-Focused Supercomputer

An anonymous reader writes For the first time in over twenty years of supercomputing history, a chipmaker [Intel] has been awarded the contract to build a leading-edge national computing resource. This machine, expected to reach a peak performance of 180 petaflops, will provide massive compute power to Argonne National Laboratory, which will receive the HPC gear in 2018. Supercomputer maker Cray, which itself has had a remarkable couple of years contract-wise in government and commercial spheres, will be the integrator and manufacturer of the "Aurora" super. This machine will be a next-generation variant of its "Shasta" supercomputer line. The new $200 million supercomputer is set to be installed at Argonne's Leadership Computing Facility in 2018, rounding out a trio of systems aimed at bolstering nuclear security initiatives as well as pushing the performance of key technical computing applications valued by the Department of Energy and other agencies.

Comments

Need to Make "Safer" Nuclear Weapons

[darkmeridian]

The computers are probably part of an effort to make "safer" nuclear bombs without nuclear testing. Our warheads are now decades old. They need to be rebuilt and redesigned to institute safer technologies. Many warheads do not have inert explosives, which means that the warheads may become dirty bombs during a fire. We have created insensitive munitions that will not explode even when dropped or burnt. These newer explosives have different properties that require testing with computers to simulate.