Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

CERN Releases Analysis of LHC Incident

Posted by timothy on from the training-exercise-was-too-trite dept.

sash writes "From the fresh press release: 'Investigations at CERN following a large helium leak into sector 3-4 of the Large Hadron Collider tunnel have confirmed that cause of the incident was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator's magnets. This resulted in mechanical damage and release of helium from the magnet cold mass into the tunnel. Proper safety procedures were in force, the safety systems performed as expected, and no one was put at risk. Sufficient spare components are in hand to ensure that the LHC is able to restart in 2009, and measures to prevent a similar incident in the future are being put in place.'"

4 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Too bad by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Informative

    How many billions of Euros have been spent on this project already?

    About 3.4 billion euros, and estimated to total around 6 billion euros in the end. Compared to a lot of other things, that isn't that much. Especially when you consider that several countries have been shouldering the cost together

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  2. Re:Too bad by Animaether · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The total cost of the project is expected to be 3.2-6.4 billion.[15]" - wikipedia
    [15] = http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/god-particle/achenbach-text

    Skimmed over the reference, page 6 states:
    "Some U.S. money has gone into the LHC, which will cost billions of dollars: five, maybe ten--the exact number is elusive (the science will be precise, but the accounting apparently follows the Uncertainty Principle)."

    Contrast that with, say, the Joint Strike Fighter program+purchases:
    "Total development costs are estimated at more than US$40 billion (underwritten largely by the United States), while the purchase of an estimated 2,400 planes is expected to cost an additional US$200 billion.[49]"

  3. Re:Too bad by zippthorne · · Score: 4, Informative

    I suppose, if 35 km (25 km if you go wingtip to wingtip) is "nothing like" 27 km.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  4. Re:They got the idea from Deep Thought by Candid88 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "to stall for 6 months"

    I think it needs pointing out though that the LHC was always going to be shutdown over the next few months as a planned contigency period in-case of even bigger faults occuring then the one which did (or construction being delayed as was widely expected).

    The real experiments will be occuring by mid-2009.