Supercomputer Tianhe-1A shut down due to Tianjin blast

China has shut down supercomputer Tianhe-1A due to the blast in Tianjin Wednesday night.

Tianhe-1A, located at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, is just kilometers from the blast center.

The shockwaves shattered windows at the center and caused collapsed ceilings inside the building, according to the center's staff.

The supercomputer was still running smoothly immediately after the blast, said Liu Guangming, director of the center.

Protected by a reinforced computer room, the supercomputer and its database remain intact, said Liu.

Liu and his staff said they decided to manually shut down Tianhe-1A half an hour after the blast due to security concerns.

An explosion ripped through a warehouse where dangerous chemicals were stored in north China's Tianjin City late Wednesday night. The blast had killed 17 people and injured more than 400 as of Thursday morning, according to rescuers.

Tianhe-1A, which can perform 2.57 quadrillion computing operations per second, was recognized as the world's fastest computing system in 2010, according to a biannual Top 500 supercomputer list.