Very cool!
And, if you like this, you'd probably also enjoy learning about the Plutonium Pit storage areas at the Pantex plant:
http://cryptome.org/pantex-nukes.htm
And, if you like this, you'd probably also enjoy learning about the Plutonium Pit storage areas at the Pantex plant:
http://cryptome.org/pantex-nukes.htm
On February 2, warning lights on a radiation warning system failed due to
previous software modifications to the fail-safe system. It was discovered
that no records of the revisions to the software were ever required or
maintained, so the direct cause of the malfunction was unclear.
My impression is that you end up with bad code in critical systems due to the exact same forces as anywhere else.
Difference is, rather than ramping up the quality of the development / testing with the seriousness of the application, people tend to ramp up the requirement hair-splitting, ass-covering and accountability obfuscating.
Fighting this requires a rare, uncompromising attitude that often isn't conducive to remaining employed.
In addition to that, there are hardware companies that have always seen software as necessary but uninteresting, thus trying to cut costs on it as much as possible, and not knowing how to set up an environment conductive to good software development (like having non-programmer physicists code in C, or still being stuck using 80's source control tools).
Lovely. Glad to see they are taking the necessary precautions to protect the 12k+ pits of plutonium at the Pantex site