[HN Gopher] An unused nuclear power plant became home to a world...
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       An unused nuclear power plant became home to a world-class
       acoustics lab
        
       Author : Tomte
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2025-04-08 14:04 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | InDubioProRubio wrote:
       | Does the world-class acoustics lab earn so much money, it can
       | upkeep the industrial facility its housed in?
        
         | sightbroke wrote:
         | > "The roof itself will cost over $1 million to fix, and
         | nobody's going to do that. We work around it."
         | 
         | Doesn't seem like it
         | 
         | > Tearing down a building meant to withstand a magnitude 10
         | earthquake isn't a viable option, either. "This building is
         | gonna be around 1,000 years from now," Sauro says of the
         | reactor housing.
        
         | speed_spread wrote:
         | Even if it only covers a fifth of the costs, this wave of reuse
         | is very sound.
        
         | Alex3917 wrote:
         | > Does the world-class acoustics lab earn so much money, it can
         | upkeep the industrial facility its housed in?
         | 
         | Obviously not, but there isn't much else the space can be used
         | for. Power plants are extremely polluted because the PCBs from
         | the turbines and transformers drip into the concrete floors and
         | stay there forever, so these spaces generally can't be
         | repurposed in any meaningful way.
        
           | sksxihve wrote:
           | Satsop was never operational
        
       | MrBuddyCasino wrote:
       | The article doesn't explain it, but the reason why you want a
       | large space to measure loudspeakers is that your measuring
       | frequency range is determined by the time it takes until the
       | first reflection arrives, which you can exclude by using a
       | windowing function in your measuring software. You only want the
       | direct sound emanating from the DUT, not the reflections (unless
       | you're interested in room correction).
       | 
       | The larger the space, the lower the frequency you can still
       | measure.
        
         | myself248 wrote:
         | So the top of a very tall tower...
        
           | MrBuddyCasino wrote:
           | Yes. Except you also need a building around it to isolate
           | outside noise and wind.
        
         | a-french-anon wrote:
         | Unless you use German space magic:
         | https://www.klippel.de/products/rd-system/modules/nfs-near-f...
        
           | MrBuddyCasino wrote:
           | I wasn't aware the Klippel scanner can do low-frequency
           | measurements - any idea how?
        
             | a-french-anon wrote:
             | Complicated maths, from what I (don't) understand. Note
             | that it's only the NFS that can do so.
             | 
             | https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/
             | u... is a good resource to get a high-level explanation.
        
       | thedougd wrote:
       | Related: Underwater scenes for the movie, "The Abyss", were
       | filmed in an incomplete nuclear power plant in South Carolina.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Nuclear_Power_Plant
        
       | Anechoic wrote:
       | Ron is a fixture at acoustics conferences, he's a nice guy and
       | was very passionate about making the facility work when he was
       | raising funds in the aughts. If you're going to be in the area
       | and give him enough notice, he'll be happy to give you a tour.
       | 
       | Last I heard (which was admittedly about 10 years ago, things may
       | have changed since then), the facility was struggling a bit. It's
       | true that these types of testing facilities need quiet background
       | noise levels for testing, but that can usually be achieved either
       | through putting the facility in the middle of nowhere, or over-
       | engineering the structure. NWAA obviously has both, but that
       | results in increased costs. On the other hand, you have
       | facilities like Orfield Labs and Microsoft's newest anechoic
       | chamber that manage to be _very_ quiet while still located in
       | relatively convenient areas. Plus many audio/speaker/acoustical
       | products companies have their own facilities.
       | 
       | That said I'm glad NWAA is still getting press and I hope it
       | remains a fixture for generations to come. We need more of these
       | moonshots.
        
       | kjkjadksj wrote:
       | Seems like world class acoustics are being forgotten about and
       | not being invested in. A lot of ink has been spilled about the
       | famous underground Columbia Records vaults for recording and
       | applying reverb. But that building has been in renovation
       | purgatory for years now with gutted interiors and an empty
       | parking lot. So clearly those exquisite vaults aren't so in
       | demand if they are even still used.
        
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