4 ms·

Google To Go Nuclear

20 points by whyleym 17y ago

CWuestefeld 17y ago
Nuclear is an obvious next step for the company. An early start on April Fools day?
- trafficlight 17y ago
  It's not a very good April Fools joke if it makes complete sense.
- icey 17y ago
  It's already April 1st in Australia; so I'm going to go with yes.
pg 17y ago
For about 10 seconds I believed this. Given their power needs it would be a reasonable move to get into power generation technology, and nuclear would be the nerd's choice.
- andreyf 17y ago
  Aside from the speculation of Google making nuclear weapons to use against China, I think there isn't anything unreasonable about it -- that is, funding research into safe nuclear energy, and deploying it first in places with friendly regulations (then using that success as an example to argue for better regulations in the US). The top of the article is dated "March 31st", so I imagine it might be true.
- cperciva 17y ago
  IIRC google has funded research into some "alternative" approaches to nuclear fusion -- so to that extent they are taking the nerd's choice. In contrast, fission is only a choice for people who like political quagmires; the technical challenges are tiny compared with the political challenges.
- jcl 17y ago
  FWIW, they're already doing solar: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-5749586-7.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-5749586-7.html http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2009/touring-googles-solar-panel-installation/ http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2009/touring-googles-so...
aero142 17y ago
What strange article. I find it reasonable that Google might want to experiment with small nuclear reactors. Then the author goes off into imagination land suggesting that Google might colonize and become and independent nuclear armed nation which would need Mutually Assured Destruction against China. Seriously strange.
rationalbeaver 17y ago
Google replies: http://blog.google.org/2010/03/gooey-googley-energy.html http://blog.google.org/2010/03/gooey-googley-energy.html
medecau 17y ago
To be clear, most of this is speculation. All we’ve confirmed is that Google has acquired a company with a new enrichment process and that they have begun researching small, nuclear portable generators.
thenbrent 17y ago
Google has been considering going nuclear since at least 2006: "Should Google Go Nuclear? Clean, cheap, nuclear power (no, really)" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606# Granted, other than the title they've chosen for the video, there isn't a focus in this video on Google actually adopting Nuclear energy. But they were clearly trying to start changing the perception of nuclear energy as far back as 2006.

20 points by whyleym 17y ago

CWuestefeld 17y ago

Nuclear is an obvious next step for the company. An early start on April Fools day?

trafficlight 17y ago
It's not a very good April Fools joke if it makes complete sense.
icey 17y ago
It's already April 1st in Australia; so I'm going to go with yes.

pg 17y ago

For about 10 seconds I believed this. Given their power needs it would be a reasonable move to get into power generation technology, and nuclear would be the nerd's choice.

andreyf 17y ago
Aside from the speculation of Google making nuclear weapons to use against China, I think there isn't anything unreasonable about it -- that is, funding research into safe nuclear energy, and deploying it first in places with friendly regulations (then using that success as an example to argue for better regulations in the US). The top of the article is dated "March 31st", so I imagine it might be true.
cperciva 17y ago
IIRC google has funded research into some "alternative" approaches to nuclear fusion -- so to that extent they are taking the nerd's choice. In contrast, fission is only a choice for people who like political quagmires; the technical challenges are tiny compared with the political challenges.
jcl 17y ago
FWIW, they're already doing solar: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-5749586-7.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-5749586-7.html http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2009/touring-googles-solar-panel-installation/ http://www.jasonmorrison.net/content/2009/touring-googles-so...

aero142 17y ago

What strange article. I find it reasonable that Google might want to experiment with small nuclear reactors. Then the author goes off into imagination land suggesting that Google might colonize and become and independent nuclear armed nation which would need Mutually Assured Destruction against China. Seriously strange.

rationalbeaver 17y ago

Google replies: http://blog.google.org/2010/03/gooey-googley-energy.html http://blog.google.org/2010/03/gooey-googley-energy.html

medecau 17y ago

To be clear, most of this is speculation. All we’ve confirmed is that Google has acquired a company with a new enrichment process and that they have begun researching small, nuclear portable generators.

thenbrent 17y ago

Google has been considering going nuclear since at least 2006: "Should Google Go Nuclear? Clean, cheap, nuclear power (no, really)" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606# Granted, other than the title they've chosen for the video, there isn't a focus in this video on Google actually adopting Nuclear energy. But they were clearly trying to start changing the perception of nuclear energy as far back as 2006.