By KUNA,
Geneva : Investigations at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) following a large helium leak into sector 3-4 of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel have indicated that it was most likely caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator’s magnets.
CERN has announced that before a full understanding of the incident can be established, however, the sector has to be brought to room temperature and the magnets involved opened up for inspection.
This will take three to four weeks. Full details of this investigation will be made available once it is complete.
CERN Director General Robert Aymar said that this incident came immediately after the very successful start of LHC operation on 10 September, and was thus undoubtedly a psychological blow.
“Nevertheless, the success of the LHC’s first operation with beam is testimony to years of painstaking preparation and the skill of the teams involved in building and running CERN’s accelerator complex. I have no doubt that we will overcome this setback with the same degree of rigour and application,” he added.
The CERN announcement said that the time necessary for the investigation and repairs precludes a restart before CERN’s obligatory winter maintenance period, bringing the date for restart of the accelerator complex to early spring 2009.
LHC beams will then follow.