LHC Shut Down Because of Electrical Fault
The world's largest particle collider was stopped on Wednesday, a week after its startup, as a result of an electrical fault, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Thursday.
The problem affected a cooling system for high-powered magnets designed to steer beams of particles around the Large Hadron Collider's 27-kilometre (16.9-mile) circular tunnel, CERN said. The LHC "is still in commissioning phase, it's a very complex tool and it's normal for there to be stoppages," a CERN spokeswoman told AFP.
Commissioning work stopped on Wednesday, but was likely to resume later Thursday, she said. The LHC took nearly 20 years to complete and at six billion Swiss francs (3.76 billion euros, 5.46 billion dollars) is one of the costliest and most complex scientific experiments ever attempted.
