Serious Magnet Failure at CERN's New Accelerator

GrepNut writes "CERN is reporting that the giant magnets that steer the particle beam in the new and highly anticipated Large Hadron Collider have just failed catastrophically in a stress test, apparently due to a design oversight. It doesn't help that the magnets were designed and built by CERN's US competitor Fermilab." While safety precautions were followed, and no one was injured nor were any rifts in the space-time continuum opened, it's still a rather large setback for the project.

Comments

Back at Fermilab

[dduardo]

Scientists: Muhahahaha, that will teach those Europeans.

Re:Back at Fermilab

[Kensai7]

From 1998 to 2002, Fermilab conducted four engineering reviews of the magnets by experts from Fermilab, other US national laboratories and CERN. The reviews do not appear to have addressed these asymmetric loads. Tests at Fermilab were done on single magnets where such loads do not develop.

I get it, I get it! I presume these magnets are "export" versions as those faulty F16s Americans sell us Europeans now and then. :)

Re:moron

[nearlygod]

What the hell is your problem? I didn't realize that jokes had been banned from slashdot... or did you just not get it?

nearlygod

No pictures, no interviews, no names

[heroine]

At least when NASA has a problem, they photograph it and show it to the readers. The lack of pictures, interviews, and names in the CERN press release is incredible. It is quite a different culture than we're used to.