Faulty transformer downs Large Hadron Collider

19 Sep 2008 08:02

Not long after the world's largest particle collider became operational, a transformer for cooling malfunctioned, forcing operations to be suspended

Not long after the Large Hadron Collider was launched last week, the world's largest particle collider experienced a malfunction affecting its cooling operations.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), the organisation that built the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), announced on Thursday that a transformer that helps cool part of the collider had malfunctioned, forcing operations to be suspended.

Cern stated: "The transformer, weighing 30 tonnes and with a rating of 12MVA, was exchanged over the weekend. During this process, the cryogenics system was put into a standby mode, with the two sectors kept at around 4.5K. Since the beginning of the week, the cryogenics team has been busy recooling the magnets and preparing for operation with beam, which is currently forecast for today [Thursday]."

There was no explanation as to why Cern took so long to announce the malfunction, however.

The LHC, a massive particle accelerator, 17 miles in circumference and built along the French-Swiss border, is designed to help scientists explore particle physics theories.

However, it has also spawned fears among some that the experiments could prompt natural disasters or black holes that would swallow Earth, which has led to threatening phone calls and emails, Cern said.

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/emergingtech/0,1000000183,39490057,00.htm