RIKEN Next-Generation Supercomputer, Kobe, Port Island:chottomatte.net

RIKEN Next-Generation Supercomputer, Kobe, Port Island

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Just short update (2010 01 19) – Green light for the project – it will be completed!

RIKEN Next-Generation Supercomputer was expected to be the most powerful computer in the world when it start to operate at full capacity in 2012 (it was supposed to be partially operational already in 2010). Unfortunately the Japanese government decided to cancel the project ” as wasteful and lacking clear objective and benefit”. This is really a pity as around 50 billion yens were already spent for building the facility. At present moment the government agreed to reconsider its decision amid widespread outcry by the Japanese scientific society but the chances for completion of the project still look quite slim.

The computer was planned to operate at 10 petaflops (1 petaflop is 1 quadrillion or one thousand million million operations per second), to have scalar CPUs and Linux based operating system.

(If you want more technical details please visit the official RIKEN supecomputer page. Unfortunately they do not update it with new information concerning the current status of the project – at least not the English one.)

It was expected also to help in the solving of many problems in the nanotechnology, disaster prevention, climate change prediction, astronomy, aerospace and life sciences.

This is how the supercomputer complex was supposed to look when finished:

building2

And this is how it looked when I visited it today (16 12 2009):

You definitely can distinguish all of the main buildings from the plan. The site was looking quite desolate though and in the beginning I couldn’t see any workers. The wind, the dust and wild grasses surrounding it didn’t help to change the mood:

Particularly interesting for me was the dome you can see behind the main building:

In the beginning I thought that this would be the place where the main computer will be situated but later I was told that this is actually the cooling system. And guess what? It was planned ocean water to be used for the heat disposal. Interesting technical solution but I just wander what will happen with these buildings if the supercomputer project is completely terminated? A new Kobe aquarium may be.

One of the main differences between the planned (completed) building and the present one are the missing glass walls:

Nevertheless I have been able to spot a truck loaded with glass:

Moreover it seemed that they were preparing to unload it. I even saw and few workers coming from the cooling dome:

It seems that after all the work on the most powerful supercomputer building place didn’t stop completely. I have no idea though if these are the last days of building activity or some “internal information” still keeps them going on. :)