Why do the US need IBM's Blue Gene/L to keep there Nuclear Weapons Stockpile safe and under control?
958625
your average American can get into trouble boiling an egg, so take the human factor out. Wargames anybody??!!!
639127
Its main use is as an alloy in other metals, namely alloyed in steel. \n\nAt one time there was talk of producing a cobalt bomb. I suppose they would use cobalt 60. It has been nick named the doomsday bomb as it would wipe out all life on Earth. \nGWB is probably constructing one right now.
362038
they lack the number of centrifuges to have at least 90% enriched uranium\n\nthey lack the trigger mechanism for a nuclear device\n\nthey lack the expertise to put it into a delivery system such as a war head.\n\nThe estimated time to do the above is anywhere from 2012 to 2015.  these are major technical hurdles that need to be crossed.
353792
Following the Cold War, I believe many Americans were afraid of nuclear threat. As a result, U.S. would sign the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) which would conform the countires into a military alliance if any one of them were threatened.\n\nI don't know if this also includes the 'arms race,' in which U.S. would compete with the Soviets to build the H-Bomb (organzied in the secret Manhatten Project) while the Soviets were attempting to build their first Atomic Bomb.
602659
This is not a very smart question to be asking given the War on Terrorism we are involved in around the world.  There are at least 6 Nuclear Powers in the world that I know of, the US, UK, Russia, Israel, China, and France, nations which have or are capable right now in building and delivering by missile or briefcase, to a designated target.  There are at least 5 more working hard to enrich uranium to build their bomb, having already obtained a delivery system. Our government is very jittery and gets very suspicious of people who ask the kinds of questions you did.  If you want people knocking on the door at home, your doing a fine job of attracting the kind of attention and scrutiny you do not want, trust me.  I am one of those people who watched out for people like you before I retired.  Do yourself a favor and find a new interest.
870591
It was the US entry in the race to develop the atomic bomb. If we hadn't done it, the Germans or the Japanese would have because they were only a bit behind us in the race. It was inevitable that it would be developed one way or another.
457093
Yes, Seneca said that.  Interesting that you would quote him. Do you know what his point was in saying "Be careful that your enemies dont get your weapons"?  Sounds a lot like that quote is very much in support of limiting nuclear proliferation Would it be best if nobody had nukes?  In the 50 years before nuclear weapons were invented, over 100 million people were killed in wars.  And in the 60+ years since, is that true?  If the US destroyed all of it's nuclear weapons, do you seriously believe this would end the problem?  That countries like North Korea and Iran would generously quite trying to build them?  The US, along with the EU, is trying to stop other countries from building nuclear weapons.  Are you trying to say that because the US, France, and the UK, among others, have nuclear weapons, that they should not try to stop proliferation?  Are you saying that the US and those other countries should get rid of their nuclear weapons, and thus would miraculously cause everyone else to stop building them?  Think about it-the US is hated by many powerful countries.  If the US got rid of their nuclear weapons, would that tend to make those countries more eager, or less, to build a weapon that, once the US had none, could aid these other countries in actually defeating the US on a battlefield?  Think through your argument- The US having nuclear weapons may be a problem, but it is unrelated to nuclear proliferation.  And, the US is not leading the battle to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, the EU is.
1120999
No, be nice, but Reagan couldn't make it work. We're testing a system aboard a mod 747, and ground based systems, but nothing powerful enough yet to penetrate the atmosphere. Other anti-missile missile systems being tested for regional defense. Japan is partnered with us on that among others.
46139
Ford produced the concept Ford Nucleon, but a nuclear car is unlikely to ever exist. Selling nuclear material to the public in quantities larger than a smoke detector isn't exactly safe, they could be used by terrorists to create a dirty bomb, you'd have to evacuate an area for a million years every time there was a car crash, and the weight of the shielding would be just a bit of a problem.
576119
I suspect this isn’t a serious question. If you were to go to the trouble to network a PC with Apple IIe, a computer over 20 years old what could you possible accomplish? They don’t contain a hard drive. If you have data on floppies it isn’t IBM compatible data. I think this guy is pulling our legs. I wish he provided info on why he wants to network them.
105575
I THINK THAT YOUR COUNTRY'S DIRECTION IN THE NUCLEAR AGE IS DEPENDANT ON HOW THE PROGRAM IS BASED AND IMPLIMENTED. HOW IT CAN BE GUIDED AND MONITORED FOR SAFETY VIOLATION'S AND UPGRADES. I DO NOT WANT FOR YOUR COUNTRY TO GET UPSET AT CURRENT EVENT'S AND STRIKE ONE OF IT'S ENEMY'S WITH A NUCLEAR WEAPON JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE CAPABILITY.
962933
Considering that nations that officially have nuclear weapons have tested them within their own borders, and sometimes even deliberately on their own people... I see absolutely no reason why they couldn't use them internally in self defense.\n\nTo some extent, this goes back to the creation of the tactical nuclear strategy developed by the US, as a member of NATO, to defend Western Europe during the cold war.\n\nAs the Warsaw Pact (dominated by the Soviet Union, USSR) had overwhelming strength in troops, armor and aircraft, a nuclear counter strategy was developed.\n\nThis was dependent on tactical (rather than strategic) nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons that could be fired out of howitzers were developed, the theory being that you could blast the bad guys, and the good guys would win.\n\nSo the use of nuclear weapons to stop an invasion not only has intrinsic logical precedent, any means necessary, as well as the technology to make it less than internally lethal.\n\n-dh\n\nScary thought though...
308622
As far as I am aware, the 2 atomic bombs that were dropped are still causing deaths today due to birth defects and cancers.\nHyposcrisy? I have often wondered the same thing. The question I ask is why does it appear that the US government only allow the US and it's allies to even have nuclear capability?
952996
my grandfather worked in area 51 for 3 years. my own grandma didnt even know it until after he died. the secrets run deep out there, but what she figured out was they were testing experimental aircraft. the secrecy is for our national security. my grandfather designed electrical blueprints for aircrafts. the stealth bomber was one of his "projects".
157830
The US has a "dual" order system, only two people can receive and transmitt a nuclear launch order, even the President needs the Secretary of Defense or other high level civilian leader to repeat his order.  \n\nA typical sequence would involve the Commander at NORAD observing nuclear missiles being fueled based on satellite photos/cameras observed by Second Louis' at their computer screen deep underground at Offut AFB, Nebraska and/or aerial reconnaisance. As the nerve center of the United States Strategic Command, the USSTRATCOM Command Center at Offut AFB is prepared to transmit National Command Authority directives to strategic aircraft, submarines and missile forces. \n\nUSSTRATCOM General or Admiral telephones the President regarding the possible launch of enemy missiles. The President and his "PAL" enter the codes authorizing the Pentagon to launch nuclear weapons. The President's codes are with him 24/7 carried in a suitcase ("football") by a military aid.  The Single Intergrated Operational Plans (SIOP) are contained in the football and are classified.\n\nIn the event of national emergencies, a series of seven different alert Conditions can be called.  DEFCON 1-5 are ready states of alertness declared by USSTRATCOM (the old SAC).  SAC declared DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the only time in history we've been at that level (ready to strike targets in the Soviet Union).  EMERGCONs are even greater states of war readiness, these are times when the NORAD commander has determined that a nuclear attack is underway or imminent, either against continental USA targets or US installations.  \n\nTo maintain civilian control over the military, the Joint Military Command (used to be th Air Force) maintains at least two TACOMO aircract E-6 airborne command centers, carrying who ever's left of the civilian leadership that may be alive.  During the 9/11 attack, we were only placed on DEFCON III, even though continental US was under attack.\n\nThe SIOPS advisor aboard the "Looking Glass, the second in command, headed the planning staff advised the Looking Glass commander (Flag officer from Navy or Airforce) of the war plans available to the President. The intelligence officer briefs the entire battle staff on current intelligence matters, developed threat assessments, and identified emerging threats to the US.  The Looking Glass provides around-the-clock, survivable, alternate command post for the National Command Authority (NCA) and the Commander in Chief of USSTRATCOM, guaranteeing the use of strategic forces during national emergencies. \n\nThe dual system of the launch sequence goes to the level of the Titan Missile silos: After receiving and confirming the launch two officers in the command capsule must turn keys simultaneously after receiving the proper “enabling” code. This unlocks a butterfly valve, allowing two chemicals to combine and ignite, launching the missile.   \n\nNuclear Subs and B-2 Bombers have dual systems sequences, so that one person cannot launch their respective missiles.  The PALS (Permissive Action Links) system is used to authentic codes and prevent unauthorized use of the weapons.
107995
There's a couple of them. \nhttp://www.top500.org/lists/2005/11/\nThe new and previous No. 1 is DOE's IBM BlueGene/L system, installed at DOEâ€™s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It has doubled in size (again) and has now achieved a record Linpack performance of 280.6 TFlop/s. It is still the only system ever to exceed the 100 TFlop/s mark.
1116836
In reference to another post there is no working star wars program in place, we are just as vulnerable to a missile attack today as we were fifty years ago, now the likelihood of a large scale nuclear attack is much much lower without the soviets runnin around, though it is always possible that by some computer error that a launch will take place from either us or the russian silos, afterwards if we don't convince each other that it was a mistake it would probably lead to a full scale nuclear exchange, now that covers the U.S. and Russia, but don't forget the other nuclear nations out there such as Pakistan and India which are pretty much where the U.S. and Soviets were twenty years ago, so on that side of the planet I would say within the next two years that there is a 20% possibility of a nuclear exchange barring any massive change in policy or major event such as some sort of military incident betweent those two countries. It is possible that there could be a nuclear device smuggled and detonated in the U.S. by some terrorist organisation but that would not lead to a nuclear war, unless the perpetrators of such an attack posessed a nuclear arsenal. Let me just say that with today's great technology a nuclear device does not have to be any bigger than a briefcase and with lax border control and nearly unlimited funding for terrorist organisations in addition to lack of intelligence on nuclear material around the world it is very possible that some terrorist organisation may suceed in detonating a device on American soil. Let's all hope that never happens