“An energy start-up backed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates is in discussions with Toshiba Corp. on developing a small-scale nuclear reactor that would represent a long-term bet to make nuclear power safer and cheaper,” Robert A. Guth and Daisuke Wakabayashi report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Toshiba said it is in preliminary discussions with TerraPower, a unit of Intellectual Ventures, a patent-holding concern partially funded by Mr. Gates,” Guth and Wakabayashi report. “Intellectual Ventures, based in Bellevue, Wash., is run by a former Microsoft executive, Nathan Myhrvold.”
Guth and Wakabayashi report, “The discussions come as President Barack Obama is trying to spur new investment in nuclear power in the U.S. with over $8 billion in government loan guarantees announced in February.”
“In interviews, Mr. Gates has described the device as being able to run buried deep in the ground without human intervention,” Guth and Wakabayashi report. “The reactor would likely take years to develop and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn’t have a certification process for such reactors.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The guy responsible for the most unstable computer operating system in world history wants to build nuclear reactors? Microsoft Windows Chernobyl 2015®. Use Mac OS X to control the thing, Bill. This isn’t the accounting department down the hall; uptime sounds really important in this case. Swallow your misplaced pride now or we’re all doomed!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Eric H.” for the heads up.]
The half-life of this story will be short.
@AMPAR…..I stopped worrying and now love the bomb…….
OK. I don’t love Gates either. While he had good marketing, he never brought about an environment of positive change and innovation.
To be fair, because he is NOT a scientist, and others would be leading this type of project, he is just the funding behind what is probably a concept that has been floating around for a while. This may not be bad. With his money, perhaps he can actually encourage the appropriate research into something that is really useful. He wouldn’t be directing this (thankfully) but just providing the needed financial energy to research it.
I feel that because of our lack of research into alternative energy over the past 8 years, that this could be very useful in the short term…to provide a solid source of energy until non-polluting, renewable energy sources are mastered.
While he’s at it, why doesn’t he help with research to bring solar energy up to high efficiency levels? That might beat out a ‘short-term’ nuclear effort.
And of course, what about fusion energy? Also check out the use of Thorium reactors. Essentially no long term spent fuel issues with many of the benefits of easy use and safety.
Ever read the OS X EULA:
“…YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE
APPLE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES ARE NOT INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE IN SITUATIONS OR ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE FAILURE OR TIME DELAYS OF, OR
ERRORS OR INACCURACIES IN THE CONTENT, DATA OR INFORMATION PROVIDED BY, THE APPLE SOFTWARE OR SERVICES COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL
INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES…”
I came here to say Thorium. Glad to see it has been mentioned twice already.
The pow! starts now.
MDN missed this one. The use of Mac OS X in nuclear power plants is expressly prohibited by the EULA:
F. Except as and only to the extent permitted by applicable licensing terms governing use of the Open-Sourced Components, or by applicable law, you may not copy,
decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any part thereof. THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
@First 2010, then 2012:
Put a zipper on it, jerk-off!
@First 2010, then 2012
“People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” – Benjamin Franklin
Patriot Act – speaks for itself, if you aren’t blind to the associated irony, your idiocy, and your narrow-mindedness.
Nuclear fission reactors play an important role in the U.S. electrical power grid as the foundation for a stable power supply that includes a range of other sources, including renewables – wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wave/current, etc.
The U.S. has made at least three major mistakes in the area of nuclear fission reactors:
1) Failure to develop and certify a single reactor design to improve safety and reduce construction, operation, and training costs. (France did this)
2) Knee jerk reaction of politicians, media, and uninformed public to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl that fission reactors are “bad.”
3) Failure to push through the obstructions and utilize the planned nuclear waste repository in Nevada after decades of effort and billions of dollars.
Just typical = no deep reflexion, just short vision and fast profit by cultivating the “it’s just allright, polution doesn’t exist” and “Ecologists are communists pledging” syndrom!
Bill is really a stupid billionaire and nothing else.
MDN take = my thoughts exactly.
Interesting solution, but please keep it far away from MS.
good catch on the eula too
forgot about that one!
It is really cool to see that in there though.
If there’s a way to make a nuke reactor go ‘China Syndrome’, Bill Gates will find it. In-frickin-sane.
MDN: You are completely ignorant. And, despite being a Mac supporter, owner, and enthusiast for a very long time, I am willing to acknowledge that Windows 7 has closed the long-held gap between MacOS and Windows.
The computing world still is over 90% PC, so until Macs rule the market share, I think it’s not only inaccurate for you to criticize MS on that front (apparently 100 million Windows users thing you are wrong) but it’s just plan stupid.
Gates is working through his foundation to bring solutions to world problems, including investments in education, clean water, clean energy, and AIDS relief throughout the world. He has pledged to donate almost all of his vast amount of financial resources (well over $30 billion dollars) to these causes.
Steve Jobs just tears down historic landmarks to build a concrete jungle so he can live in a modern home.
Name me the last charitable thing Jobs did except move to Tennessee and jump ahead of some deserving people on the donor list to receive a new liver.
You are pathetic.
Generic coward ‘PlayNice’ is back! This time it sez:
“Windows 7 has closed the long-held gap between MacOS and Windows.”
Utter bullshite. I’ve been using Microsoft OSes since DOS 3 right on up to 7ista. Only a blithering idiot would imagine that Windows 7 had closed any gap with Mac OS X. That means, generic coward, that you are a blithering idiot. The list of idiocy in Windows 7 is very long, proving as ever that Microsoft remain, as usual, slaves to DOS methods of enslaving the user in stupid procedures.
My very favorite examples:
1) 7ista STILL initially boots into DOS memory management. ANYONE can see this by booting into verbose mode and watching that classic 640K memory line go marching by.
2) What is the name of your boot drive on 7ista? It’s ye olde C:
3) When an application is installed, are all the data and resources package up into one nice application in one single location? Not in Windows 7! As per usual, application installation dumps files all over your computer hard drive, making it entirely impossible to simply uninstall any application.
4) On Mac OS X all the control panels are clearly marked, easy to comprehend and easy to use. And on 7ista? Hell on Earth. When the Control Panels are demoed to PC user groups I consistently hear gasps of disbelief that Microsoft have made Control panels even MORE difficult to comprehend and use.
5) Despite all the hype about security in 7ista, as proven at Pwn2Own just yesterday, all the new nifty security features can be worked around and beaten, allowing the usual infection and PWNing of 7ista PCs. Mac OS X has also been proven to have insecurity problems, but it remains the single most secure GUI oriented OS available on the planet with over 1000x fewer malware PER USER than Windows, destroying the moronic ‘security by obscurity’ myth.
So please trolls: Know what you are talking about before you post. Otherwise please STFU.
Of couse the buzzard wants to do this. If it were George Soros himself, I wouldn’t as concerned! Let’s see, he’s involved in global genocide, the dommsday vault (so his ugly ass can glutonously consume more), Monsantos, death vaccines, gov’t spying on peopel’s personal computers, his buddies at the Federal Reserve (I guess he’s the nouveau riche board member like John D. Rockefellar in 1913) etc., etc. Talk about a ‘useless eater’. He’s the poster boy!