CLOUD

Argonne National Laboratory, the nuclear research facility in the Chicago suburbs that midwifed the atomic bomb, is ending its use of highly radioactive materials - much to the relief of its neighbors - in favor of supercomputers that will allow it to pursue a broader palate of scientific research.

As Argonne reduces the laboratory's nuclear footprint, it will dismantle the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor, used as a temporary collection site for radioactive waste from other facilities.

Argonne hopes to lure more federal dollars to help its scientists develop technologies that could support innovations in energy conservation and other fields. It is taking a big step in that direction with plans to update its existing supercomputers with some of the world's fastest machines, including the Blue Gene/Q, the latest top-speed computer from I.B.M.

"The past was the past, and that really involved reactor experiments," said Eric D. Isaacs, the director of the laboratory. "The future is about a lot more computer-based types of design."

Continue reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/science/01cncargonne.html