this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 260 points 1 year ago (9 children)

The thought of a nuclear reactor running on Windows is terrifying.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They’re going to build it in 2026 but it’ll still somehow be running on XP.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

“What operating system is that running?”

“Uh… vista.”

“We’re all going to die!”

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

If they make it Windows ME then we ARE ALL DEAD!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Have you tried turning it off and back on again?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

XP is still a solid OS as long as you don't connect to the internet.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

A nuclear reactor connected to the internet sounds like a bad idea.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean it’s fine so long as someone remembers to pay the Mcafee bill right????

[–] SkySyrup 12 points 1 year ago

„Your reactor has been temporarily disabled due to license payment issues. Please consult [email protected]

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Not that you're safe even if it's not connected to the internet (stuxnet comes to mind)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure why you think it would be connected to the internet.

[–] whitecapstromgard 36 points 1 year ago

Even Microsoft does not trust Windows on Azure 🤣

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They'll probably not use Windows, instead opting for an OS that is proven to work with already running reactors, like QNX

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] netchami 1 points 1 year ago

More stable than Windows I guess

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Modern nuclear reactors are designed to fail safely, so Windows couldn’t actually create a Chernobyl. Everything wrong with nuclear in our world is with old-gen plants. It’s a technology that got ahead of itself by 50 years.

[–] threelonmusketeers 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yeah, there's very little information in the article on what type of reactor they plan to use, but I hope they're able to go with something like a molten salt reactor with a thorium fuel cycle.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Getting half a dozen of those built and in use would be exactly the kind of thing that tech billionaires are actually good for.

[–] prole 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fuck that. Take all the government grants and subsidies that would surely exist, and then use it for their own good/profit/power hoarding? No thanks.

Putting billionaires in control of our nuclear power infrastructure after "building" them with mostly taxpayer money, when it's all said and done, is an absolutely bone chilling thought. Terrifying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I don’t know why you think government subsidies exist - so impoverished single moms can build power plants? No. They’re pork for billionaires by design, to get them off their asses and steer them into directions we want to go. Like venture capital, they are also high risk. Our federal budget can support some level of this and it’s frankly needed to drive change in new or stalled industries where the motive for immediate profit isn’t strong enough to overcome the cold start problem. If your hatred of billionaires keeps you from making smart energy choices to address climate change, then your priorities are wrong.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

The picture they show is from terrapower, the company Bill Gates funded, which is a thorium reactor. Thorium liquid salt reactors are still difficult because of the metallurgy. I believe they were supposed to fit the small modular concept though.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Lol, even Microsoft wouldn't use Windows to train AI.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like Microsoft uses Windows for anything that matters since they got rid of Balmer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

But... Developers!... /s

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lot of them do IIRC, windows 98 is popping into my mind as an instance I've read of

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ah yes you're correct, Windows 98 is (was?) the British nuclear submarines

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Now THAT is wild as hell.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Could be worse, could be running MacOS. Surely nothing bad can happen while the entire system freezes for no reason for 15 minutes or more without any possible input from the user. It will always fix it self... (hopefully before the reactor achieves a run away meltdown chain.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

What are you running? I’ve never had an issue like that at all