http://www.physorg.com/news147702251.html
Warning system could protect Europe's giant atom-smasher Europe's giant atom-smasher, which broke down only days after being switched on with great fanfare, may restart in July or August with a new warning system to try to prevent future mishaps, its operators said Friday. Scientists have been poring over the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a multi-billion dollar machine designed to shed light on the origins of the universe, to better monitor its operations and avert future malfunctions, said a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN). The LHC took nearly 20 years to complete and cost 6 billion Swiss francs (3.9 billion euros, 4.9 billion dollars) to build in a tunnel complex under the Franco-Swiss border. It was switched on amid much excitement on September 10, but was shut down again on September 19 after a large helium leak. "We didn't think it was possible to monitor this sort of thing happening," said CERN spokesman James Gillies. However, since the accident scientists have been looking again at the data the LHC had been providing, and have determined that it is in fact possible to measure the temperature of the helium cooling mechanism, he said. Even very small rises in temperature can be recorded which could give operators advance warning of a looming breakdown, he said. Under the current schedule, a total of 53 magnet units have to be removed for cleaning or repair, with the final one being reinstalled by the end of March 2009. This would mean the LHC being cold and ready for powering tests by the end of June, and possibly back up and running by July or August, Gillies said. © 2008 AFP
