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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.'"

9 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. But but.... by sanso999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When is there ever a guarantee when it comes to electrical? Things frizzle, large areas have no power, cables wear out, the list goes on. 2009? I see this being a long project indeed.

    1. Re:But but.... by g-san · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or consider when you buy the amount of cable they did, that 0.00001% chance of defect creeps in.

    2. Re:But but.... by Candid88 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a basic "trueism" of civil engineering that when you up the scale, you inevitably up the risks. Every little component which itself has a small risk of failure often adds ontop of each other, ultimately give a far greater risk of failure (or at least construction delays/setbacks). The technology may be sound at one scale, but that doesn't mean getting it to work on a bigger scale isn't difficult and doesn't present new problems.

      This area of the LHC was always a major challenge. I just hope they can overcome this problem (as appears to be the case) but more importantly that the measures taken to prevent future faults work as planned.

  2. Re:Too bad by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 5, Insightful

    About the same amount as it takes to build 10 kilometres of underground metro in Budapest.

    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
  3. Re:Too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll take the above as sarcastic...but sometimes it's hard to tell. Honestly, there's always an argument for 'fix the wrongs of society' before funding pure science. ...

    You have committed the logical fallacy of: False Dichotomy.

    This is not an either/or. You could do both (or neither).

    Why is it "pure science" vs "fix the wrongs" instead of "pure science" vs "cosmetics" or "cosmetics" vs "fix the wrongs".

    Additionally, can you ever "fix the wrongs," or will there always be more?

  4. Re:Too bad by NewsWatcher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I had the choice of spending six billion euros on a quest to unlock some of the greatest mysteries on earth, or spend $US700 billion bailing out overpaid bankers and their cash-poor customers, I know what I would choose.

    --
    If the pattern goes 9am, 10am, 11am, why isn't noon 12am?
  5. Re:Too bad by denton420 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Exactly.

    Unfortunately for most of the population, the amount of money that governments generate is unimaginable. (My self included) When you are talking about that much money, the term it self almost loses the everyday definition. It is pure power to make things happen on a huge scale. A mobilizing agent of human power and innovation.

    There is so much money to be spent that the government hardly knows what to do with it all.

    Well maybe that last statement is unfair. They know how to spend it, they just do not know how to do it in an efficient manner without gross negligence in many instances.

    And hey, maybe figuring out what mass is "really" will help us solve world hunger. Its worked before...

  6. Re:Too bad by UCSCTek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, it seems to me like you can't put the 5 billion euros into both the LHC and other causes at the same time.

    The point about fixing the wrongs is a good one. LHC will ultimately yield substantial progress towards understanding the universe (which, to fully appreciate, you really have to be a physicist). What is the expectation of sinking the money into a social program? Many programs here in the states are poorly constructed or simply underfunded so end up a waste, while some can truly help many people more directly and immediately than basic science research. From this angle, it seems science is a lower risk investment.

    PS Obviously things are just that simple, though...

  7. Re:Too bad by stjobe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    do I have the right to demand YOUR treasure for things that make ME happy.

    In a word: No.

    YOU have no right to demand much of anything from ME. However, if we live in the same society, that society have rights to demand things of both you and me. It might demand some of MY treasure and give it to YOUR pet project.

    When you (implicitly) agree to take part of the benefits of living in a society, you also (implicitly) agree to pay the costs.

    The second you paid your taxes it's no longer your money, it's ours (as in yours and mine and everyone elses in our society). The distribution of which we've decided to leave up to our politicians (since we cannot bother ourselves).

    The politicians do "thoroughly debate" every expenditure, but not necessarily in a venue you or I have (easy) access to. This is in order since we've relinquished our right to influence those decisions.

    --
    "Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley