LHC Offline Until June

November 19, 2008 By Digital Trends Staff

LHC Offline Until June

The Large Hadron Collider, which is investigating the Big Bang and went out of action in September, won't be back online until June.

It’s not easy investigating the Big Bang. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which sits under the French-Swiss border, started work in September to much hoopla, only to shut down a week later when an electrical fault caused a helium leak.

At the time it was said that the machine would be up and running again in April next year. Now June looks like the earliest date, and repairs alone could cost $16 million.

It was always a given that the LHC would be closed for the winter, since it consumes as much electricity as Geneva. The repair time includes two months to warm up the LHC so repairs can be made, and another month to re-freeze it, said Cern, which runs the project. Given the time frame, that will mean everything might be operational in June.

A Cern spokesman told ZDNet:

"We’re building in additional monitoring and protection systems to make sure this kind of incident won’t happen again, and this will take time."

Showing 4 comments

venkatesh at 4:59am 27th November 2008 People started talking about the money, do you thing so that scientist have wasted the money ?not at all, thsy have already created thousands of jobs, and ofcourse they will make even some more, have a deep look folks. Some one in some company gets busy to make the components which are shipped to LHC. So that some one is also tasked and that some one's family is also supported. In this complexly meshed relation ship world, you might be indirectly benefited because of the CERN's project.
Aaron Kramer at 8:53pm 24th November 2008 Lyndsay Jack man you are indeed a dolt. What evidence do you have that our planet will be destroyed, the speculation of engineers and chemists who are venturing far outside their field? The LHC is completely safe and any cost you may think we are wasting will go towards a better future. Technology in every industry is based on scientific advances and understanding the universe far out weighs the monetary cost. You don't even know the first thing about physics, you probably haven't even read a credible source on the LHC. Look that up then stop being such a dumb *****
David Brantley at 1:31pm 20th November 2008 Why do people like the poster above me.
Insist that the LHC will destroy the world?

There is one constant here, the people who claim it will destroy us are the same people that don't even understand what it is. Or how it works. Why are humans always afraid of the things they don't understand.

Trust me, the chances of the LHC destroying the world are about the same as if you won the lottery, everyday for over a hundred years.
Lyndsay Jackman at 1:37am 20th November 2008 Good! i hope personally it never gets up and running, far too costly and only the scientists want it..personally i would rather have our planet and if this breakdown don't tell us something nothing will! Leave well alone please!!