Oak Ridge National Laboratory is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is owned by the Department of Energy in the US of A and they are in news because they house the superfast computer Jaguar XT5.

With a performance speed of 1.759 petaflops or quadrillions of calculations per second, it is the world’s fastest computer. The laboratory aims to use this computer to solve problems related to climate change and there would also be other applications as well.

The Jaguar is a machine that would be used for peer-reviewed research. The computer has already been scheduled fo a billion hours of processor time by users which include National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

It would study enzymes, how one could develop better ethanol and also write algorithms for nuclear reactors which do not produce a lot of radioactive material. Examining the origins of the Universe, nuclear security and other tasks would be performed by the supercomputer as well. Oak Ridge already has some of the world’s fastest computers in its kitty including the Kraken. Looks like computers wil never be the same again.

Via: Eco Geek