MADRID (AFP) - The world's second-most powerful computer is expected to be operational in Spain in January, a senior Spanish minister announced.

　　"Mare Nostrum", which will be capable of carrying out 40 trillion operations per second, is to be used for scientific research in medicine, climate change and new materials for the aeronautics and mechanical engineering industries.

　　Spain's Education and Sciences Minister Maria Jesus San Sagundo said the computer, which has been built in the northeastern port city of Barcelona, will be available for use by both Spanish and other international scientific communities.

　　The 60-tonne system, the most powerful of its kind in Europe, comprises 4,500 processors and has a storage capacity of 128 terabytes. It uses the Linux (news - web sites) operating system.

　　It was built by the Spanish government and computer giant IBM at a cost of 70 million dollars.

　　The world's biggest supercomputer is the 40-teraflop Earth Simulator built by NEC in Yokohama, Japan. It has 5,104 processors and is dedicated to studies of climate and seismic activity.