Microsoft hires energy mavericks in quest for nuclear-powered datacenters

Microsoft has hired a director of nuclear technologies to oversee a program to develop small-scale atomic reactors to power datacenters as an alternative to fossil fuels. Archana "Archie" Manoharan has been tapped for the role. She's spent more than 15 years in the energy industry and was former director of nuclear strategy & …

[John Robson]

I finally wish them well

They've always done decent hardware - and this could be a really important piece of hardware.

[UCAP]

Re: I finally wish them well

What, however, about the monitoring and control software?

"I know the reactor is about to meltdown, however Windows For Reactors (tm) won't initiate a scram until its completed its online update!"

[Spazturtle]

Re: I finally wish them well

Implying that Microsoft dogfoods their own software, their critical servers probably run Linux.

[HandleAlreadyTaken]

Re: I finally wish them well

Yeah, you really have no clue, do you? It was Paul Maritz (a Microsoft manager of yore) who coined the term of "dogfooding" when applied to the software industry. That was back in 1988, so more than 35 years ago.

[Spazturtle]

Re: I finally wish them well

No sure if you are aware but they have had multiple changes in leadership and philosophy since then.

[John Robson]

Re: I finally wish them well

I know you initiated the joke alert... but one thing about smaller reactors... is that they can shed heat enough rapidly enough to make a thermal runaway much more controllable.

One of the big issues in places like Fukushima was that the secondary reactions generated more heat than the core could reasonably reject for many days after the earthquake and tsunami wiped out most the surrounding infrastructure. A smaller core has a lower power input from secondary reactions and a (relatively) high surface area from which heat can be dissipated.

Of course the bigger thing that we've done since those were designed in the late 1960s is to design reactors with passive cooling systems, rather than relying on active systems.

[steelpillow]

Re: I finally wish them well

Although one reactor won't be enough for long, soon it'll be an underwater reactor farm, tightly packed in a sealed container. They'll all be fed the same update together...

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: They'll all be fed the same update together...

And have the update process hang (just like it does now) and then BSOD together. Boom!

[Persona non grata]

Re: I finally wish them well

"but one thing about smaller reactors... is that they can shed heat enough rapidly enough to make a thermal runaway much more controllable."

Or maybe would if they existed anywhere - they're not exactly being the commercial sucess story thry were touted as.

[John Robson]

Re: I finally wish them well

Well actually they're quite widely used in certain specialist applications (submarines for instance)

There is a desire to commercialise these, and that's a good thing.

[ThatOne]

Re: I finally wish them well

> What, however, about the monitoring and control software?

Indeed. Nobody can seriously claim they know how to keep their software working, without some untested update eventually breaking some/everything.

Death, taxes and Microsoft bugs...

[IvyKing]

Re: I finally wish them well

FWIW, the NRC wants hardwired control systems for reactors, so no software involved.

[ThatOne]

Re: I finally wish them well

Why do you assume Microsoft can do that any better?...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I finally wish them well

Error! The Reactor is going critical.

Abort power generation and lower the Control Rods?

____ __ ______

|Yes| |No| |Cancel|

[Catkin]

Re: I finally wish them well

I should bloody well hope the reactor goes critical. It wouldn't be much use if it doesn't.

[steelpillow]

Nuclear power the Microsoft way

What could possibly go wrong?

Talk about the Cloud!

[ThatOne]

Re: Nuclear power the Microsoft way

Putting "Microsoft" and "Nuclear" in the same phrase sends icy chills down my spine. I'll have to check the batteries on my Geiger counter...

[MiguelC]

Re: Nuclear power the Microsoft way

Let's hope we never get to experience the "White Sky of Death" (™)

[Sceptic Tank]

You appear to be battling a core meltdown. Do you need help with that?

Howcome that radioactivity sign in the picture on the front page has 4 blades?

[steelpillow]

Re: You appear to be battling a core meltdown. Do you need help with that?

Microsoft declared it a standard.

[Catkin]

Re: You appear to be battling a core meltdown. Do you need help with that?

I was going to say that it looks AI generated but the filename includes the word 'shutterstock'. That doesn't preclude it bring AI generated (SS have their own generator) but I've noticed some article image file names include 'AI', which I presume are ones that reg writers have generated themselves. I've also noticed file names that include the names of other AI image generators.

Why I look at this sort of thing isn't clear to me.

[steelpillow]

Re: You appear to be battling a core meltdown. Do you need help with that?

Because you were trained on the Internet as your database?

[MikesInAK]

Why the dismissive attitude?

The only nuclear reactors we've built in the last 60 years are all small units in subs and carriers.

They could buy a sub from the navy and knock this out tomorrow.

[diodesign]

"Why the dismissive attitude?"

That's kinda how we roll around here. We maintain a healthy skepticism.

C.

[Grey_Kiwi]

No you couldn't

Submarine (and aircraft carrier) nuclear reactors use Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) otherwise known as Weapons Grade Uranium.

For obvious reasons, that's not going to be proliferated into the civilian arena.

SMRs and MMRs are designed to use lower enriched uranium which is not of weapons grade, so even if terrorists / unfriendly nations do steal it, they can't make it go boom.

[Catkin]

The French use low enrichment in their boats. That's one of the reasons the Australians didn't buy a nuclear submarine from them in the first place: it would have required more refuelling cycles.

[David Newall]

As low as enrichment can be, then even lower. They were to be conventional submarines.

[Catkin]

You're talking about the Shortfin Barracuda but it's based upon the Barracuda class which is nuclear. Australia originally had a contract for the Shortfin but didn't consider the standard because of the aforementioned refuelling requirements.

[tiggity]

In the UK Rolls Royce (RR) make the PWRs for UK navy.

They have long been based in Derby and many of their nuclear research facilities are there (not all as you may expect in some isolated area of the UK ).

In UK terms Derby is a reasonable sized city... With weapons grade uranium around due to RR work. So even though the PWRs are designed for the navy, there is "attractive to terrorists" uranium in a UK civilian area.

.. RR also do SMRs, which as Grey_Kiwi mentioned, features a less "terrorist attractive" fuel source and so is OK for non military use / sale..

Also worth noting RR were, shall we say as politely as possible, rather "cavalier", with some of their radioactive waste dumping in Derbyshire, so although they are a major employer in the Derbyshire region they are not well liked by many.

[cyberdemon]

> They could buy a sub from the navy and knock this out tomorrow.

Pretty sure the only people allowed to operate the reactors on navy subs are.. The navy.

That and any civil use of the thing would come under different rules.

But then again, in a few months we could have Trump back in charge, so laws, rules etc are for sissies and losers, so you could be right. I'm sure Zuck wants one too for his bunker

[Catkin]

Re: > They could buy a sub from the navy and knock this out tomorrow.

"Pretty sure the only people allowed to operate the reactors on navy subs are.. The navy."

Pick a US submarine, any submarine and look at the reactor designation. The suffix letter designates which private company developed and built that reactor.

[steelpillow]

"They could buy a sub from the navy and knock this out tomorrow."

Yep, just fill the sub with a cloud farm, stick a fibre connector on the end of the periscope and send it back down to keep it cool.

[CowHorseFrog]

Why is it news if a company hires a director ?

If companies only hired directors they would have nothing but a big compensation bill ?

Where is the news for hiring the actual skilled people who do the real work instead of management aka bullshit talkers ?

[cyberdemon]

At this point they need bullshit talkers to massage Mr Trump's arse so that he might change some rules in their favour, otherwise this is unlikely to happen, no matter how many engineers and technicians they had.

Also, investors are prone to believing in bullshit press releases, because they are too busy snorting cocaine to listen to anybody technical

[CowHorseFrog]

You still didnt address the point why hiring skilled nuclear engineers who actually make it work and safe is not news ?

You do believe in merit and valuing actual REAL SCIENTIFIC work over bullshit talking ?

[IvyKing]

300MWe or 300MWth?

I'm assuming that the 300MW power figure was for the reactor thermal output, meaning that the turbine-generator set connected to the reactor would put out ~100MW electrical.

[ldo]

Just Don’t Call It “Nucular”

That’s all I ask.

[David Newall]

Waste management

How will they manage the waste? I think it's dangerous for 30,000 years so that will be very expensive. And if it's not dangerous, I say ship it to terrorist groups. I mean, why not, unless it really is not safe...

[John Robson]

Re: Waste management

So tell me again how you manage the waste from a coal fired power station?

[Omnipresent]

That explains it

The open AI face calling for more types of energy.

It's going to be a thermo nuclear powered clippy of dooooooooooom.

[Paul Hovnanian]

I wish them well

We need someone to step up and invest in the next generation of nuclear.

They will have one advantage over utility applications. NRC safety and siting regulations must still be met. But there won't be a ratepayer revolt over who and how it will be paid for.