> > The fastest unclassified machine at the moment is
> ...
> > used for modeling nuclear
> > processes, "to maintain USA's nuclear stockpiles without the need of
> > further nuclear tests".
>
> Am I the only one to whom this makes no sense?
Here's a news story that may help. It's from the Albuquerque (NM) Journal.
full story at http://www.abqjournal.com/scitech/1sci11-12.htm
an excerpt:
Lab officials say the real test comes not in speed
tests but in performing real nuclear weapons simulations.
Sandia National Laboratories is now in the midst of the
first real example of substituting computers for testing,
said Sandia vice president Roger Hagengruber.
Martinez and his staff are developing a new neutron
generator for the W76, a type of nuclear warhead carried
on Navy submarines.
Neutron generators are electronic devices small enough
to fit in the palm of your hand that create a burst of
subatomic particles to help detonate a nuclear weapon.
Without underground nuclear tests, and with other Energy
Department test facilities unavailable, computer simulations
are the only way to collect the data needed to certify that
the neutron generator will perform the way it's supposed to,
Hagengruber said.
-roger
