William Atkins
Friday, 05 December 2008 21:16
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
On Friday, December 5, 2008, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart sometime soon after the end of June 2009.
After experiencing a malfunction on September 19, 2008, which was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator/collider’s magnets, CERN officials found mechanical damage within the affected sector of the machine.
They also discovered that helium was released into the tunnel of the LHC, although all safety precautions kicked in as they were supposed to do, which avoided any serious human injuries or deaths.
Since the time that the damage occurred, engineers with CERN’s LHC identified ways to prevent a similar problem in the future. They designed additional protection systems for the LHC.
In addition, 53 magnet units were found to need cleaning or repair. So far, CERN officials state that 28 of them have already been removed and two new ones have been installed.
The repairing or cleaning of the remaining magnets are expected to be finished by March of 2009.
Powering tests are expected to begin at the end of June 2009.
Comments from the LHC project leader and its director-general follow on page two.
