I thought it was interesting to see that the UK is using Linux to handle special needs for their nuclear deterrent program. Guess one might even argue that people in the UK government feel that Linux was in fact, the way to go.

A Linux Networx super cluster is now part of the technology arsenal at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), a company that exists solely to provide warheads for the United Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent program. But AWE isn’t done looking at different solutions for its ever-increasing computational power needs.

High-performance computing is an integral part of today’s nuclear testing environment because of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty, which 175 countries have pledged to uphold. The treaty prohibits any kind of nuclear detonation for testing purposes, so companies like AWE “test” nuclear weapons using high-powered computer simulations. In these simulations AWE supercomputers handle tasks across the spectrum of scientific disciplines, including chemistry, physics, and engineering. In doing so, they generate large amounts of data called visualizations.

Even though the U.K. government is AWE’s only customer, the company’s technology demands continue to rise, in part because the limits of visualization technology keep expanding. Ash Vadgama, team leader and principal scientist for AWE’s Clustered Supercomputing and Visualisation Group, wants to see the accuracy of his nuclear detonation visualizations continually improve. “Our key focus is on the safety, security, and maintenance of the existing system,” Vadgama says. “You’re trying to simulate as close to reality as you can.” [Read the rest]