Hadron Collider repairs cost £14m

[Mule]

Hadron Collider repairs cost £14m


The £5bn Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is intended to smash protons - one of the building blocks of matter - into each other


Repairing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva will cost almost £14m ($21m) and "realistically" take until at least next summer to start back up.

An electrical failure shut the £3.6bn ($6.6bn) machine down in September.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) thought it would only be out of action until November but the damage was worse than expected.

It is hoped repairs will be completed by May or early June with the machine restarted at the end of June or later.

Cern spokesman James Gillies said: "If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically (in) early summer."

Fundamental questions

The LHC was built to smash protons together at huge speeds, recreating conditions moments after the Big Bang, and scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.

The fault occurred just nine days after it was turned on with Cern blaming the shutdown on the failure of a single, badly soldered electrical connection in one of its super-cooled magnet sections.

The collider operates at temperatures colder than outer space for maximum efficiency and experts needed to gradually warm the damaged section to assess it.

"Now the sector is warm so they are able to go in and physically look at each of the interconnections," Mr Gillies told Associated Press.

The cost of the work will fall within the Cern's existing budget.

Dr Lyn Evans, the Welsh-born project director has called the collider "a discovery machine, the most sophisticated scientific instrument of our time."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7734251.stm

[Mule]

Collider 'needs warning system'

An official investigation into the accident at the Large Hadron Collider has recommended that an early warning system be installed.

This system would detect the early stages of a helium leak, following an incident that has shut down the LHC until June 2009.

The collider is built to smash protons together at huge speeds, recreating conditions moments after the Big Bang.

Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.

The report identified the uncontrolled release of one tonne of helium gas as the cause of damage to 53 superconducting magnets.

Better gas pressure release valves could avoid a repeat of the accident on 19 September, it says.

The investigation carried out for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), confirmed that the cause of the accident was an electrical fault in one of the connectors linking one of the 1200 superconducting magnets that accelerate sub-atomic particles around the LHC.

The fault triggered the release of helium gas within one of the magnets.

Sudden release

It has emerged that valves that should have released the gas pressure couldn't cope with the sudden build up of helium. That led to an uncontrolled release which knocked one of the magnets forward, pushing it on to the magnet in front, dislodging it.

"Basically, they have been pulled off their feet and the interconnects have been broken," said LHC project leader Professor Lyn Evans.

Prof Evans said the incident happened at the very end of the LHC's commissioning process.

"We are extremely disappointed, especially as we had already commissioned seven of the eight sections of the LHC up to full energy," he said.

"This was the last sector to be commissioned and this was really the very last electrical circuit. I must say it felt like a real kick in the teeth."

The report also confirmed the damage would cost £14 million to repair and that experiments will not begin until next summer.

When experiments do eventually begin, they won't be carried out at full power. Instead, the LHC will be operated at two-thirds of its maximum capacity to gently run the machine in.

Formula 1 car

According to Dr Francisco Bertinelli, who is one of the engineers repairing the magnets, "you can think of the LHC as a Formula 1 racing car. It's a complex tool, a complex machine".

He added: "We will not run it from zero to top speed over one afternoon. We will build up our confidence and lower our risks."

Professor Tejinder Verdee of Imperial College London is one of the scientists working at the LHC. He said that the accident had delayed the ground-breaking science that had been planned.

"We would have been analysing collision data today. Now we will do that in the second half of next year," he said.

But he added that great science was still expected to come out of the collider.

"This science has the potential to alter the way we see nature and the way nature operates at a fundamental level so this potential still remains, albeit a few months delayed.

"The great science is still out there ahead of us, which is greatly motivating."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7766334.stm

[Mule]

Oh dear, they broke their doomsday device.

[Over Carl]

This is proof of why the experiment should be halted.

They claimed they had planned for all unforseen circumstances which in itself is an oxymoron, and the failure, especially the inadequate specification of the pressure release valves is proof they were wrong. If they cannot control a solder joint (especially bearing in mind soldering is very mature, extensively researched technology), or control pressures of gases (again nothing new) what right do these people have to play with the unknown?

[ant3b]

As over carl says.. they should halt it once and for all.. i fear the worst.. a big boom!! and we die

[Mule]

What's to fear? Instant death that would happen before you knew about it? oooh... scary.

[ant3b]

there is no facts of instant death nor death at all. it could turn us all into mutants who knows.

[tips]

What's to fear? Instant death that would happen before you knew about it? oooh... scary.

Maybe some of us aren't ready for death. Instant or otherwise.

( At least not until I have had my Viennese Truffles on Xmas Day)

[DJ OD]

This is proof of why the experiment should be halted.

They claimed they had planned for all unforseen circumstances which in itself is an oxymoron, and the failure, especially the inadequate specification of the pressure release valves is proof they were wrong. If they cannot control a solder joint (especially bearing in mind soldering is very mature, extensively researched technology), or control pressures of gases (again nothing new) what right do these people have to play with the unknown?

As over carl says.. they should halt it once and for all.. i fear the worst.. a big boom!! and we die

Prob is, they've spunked to much money on it to just scrap it. Besides... John Titor said they'd sort it ;-)


DJ OD

[neo2810]

Actually I feel a different level of humanity may be a positive.......

[CzarJunkie]

God doesn't want us to know his secrets, the dirty cunt.

[Greyfox]

After spending billions on it i dont wnat them to shutit down lol. Id usually say a 14 million repair cost is extreme but seeing how much it has cost it kind of seems to little for it to be repaired

[gunner]

All in proportion, lets hope they get it fixed asap.

[whatnow]

maybe I've been studying Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You too much but I think this is all fairly safe, maybe blackholes should be a formiddable part of life. It's a bit like all work and no play makes johnny a bored boy etc...

[blaggard]

there is no facts of instant death nor death at all. it could turn us all into mutants who knows.

Maybe they already did....... ... . . .