Geneva (Switzerland) – CERN reported the second major hiccup in getting its Large Hadron Collider(LHC) up to speed. A “large” helium leak, likely caused by a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, was detected on Friday. The repairs require the LHC to warm up, which means that the entire system will be offline for at least two months.   

The startup of the LHC isn’t going as smoothly as initially indicated. CERN said that an “incident” occurred in LHC’s final sector (34) at mid-day on Friday, causing helium to leak into the tunnel. The organization believes that the leak was likely caused by “a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, which probably melted at high current leading to mechanical failure.”

To repair the connection, the magnets will have to be warmed up from their superconducting temperature of -450 degrees Fahrenheit (-268.5 degrees Celsius or 4.5 Kelvin). Warming up, repairing the error and cooling the system back down will take at least two months, CERN said. In a normally conducting system, the error could be repaired within a few days, according to CERN officials.

Liquid helium is used as a primary layer of cooling to create superconducting magnets. A failing cooling mechanism, which includes helium leaks, will result in magnets losing their superconducting ability and will result in an off-track particle beam that is likely to hit the beam pipe during operation. Such an event, described as “quench”, can cause substantial damage: A particle beam travelling at just below the speed of light and carrying an energy level of 5 tera-electron-volt would be strong enough to burn through several feet of steel in a matter of a few nanoseconds.

Last Thursday, a 30-ton transformer used to power cooling stations for portions of the Large Hadron Collider's (LHC) gigantic superconducting magnets failed. On Friday, CERN said that the transformer had been replaced and testing resumed on Friday. Several hundred extremely large transformers are used to convert some of the incoming 45 Megawatts of power down to voltages that can be used by the LHC equipment.  

Damn that God!

Sep 21, 2008 20:09     

I can see the religious zealots now with the comments such as "See, God is attempting to stop the LHC" I was hoping to see some good results from the collisions, now have to wait another 2 months.
ChOOkiE report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

The End of the World

Sep 22, 2008 08:33     

...has been postponed due to Technical Difficulties. Please stand by. ;)
Steve report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

You know...

Sep 22, 2008 10:03     

Some people who do believe in God are also waiting for the collisions to start. I can't wait to see what we learn, unknown particles or other, as long as it improves our mental model of how it all works. God will end this world on His terms.
zooairz report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +3

And so it begins....

Sep 22, 2008 11:39     

Just tiny black holes eating away ...
Brahe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

LOL

Sep 22, 2008 14:35     

"A particle beam travelling at just below the speed of light and carrying an energy level of 5 tera-electron-volt would be strong enough to burn through several feet of steel in a matter of a few nanoseconds." is what concerns me LOL
Pete report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Darn black holes. . .

Sep 22, 2008 18:52     

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" - "How were we suppose to take over the world with a Large Hadron Collider anyways?" :P
fanboy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0