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Balky Collider Offline Into '09

Lengthy repair times, and necessary winter maintenance, delay Large Hadron Collider

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 23, 2008 3:52 PM CDT

(Newser) – A serious malfunction, and the necessarily slow progress of repairs, will keep the Large Hadron Collider from starting its first experiments until spring, the Times reports. A major problem Friday shut down the European atom-smasher, and officials said the heating, repair and recooling of the giant magnets would take 2 months. But scheduled winter maintenance will intervene, effectively shuttering the huge experiment into 2009.

How the LHC works.
How the LHC works.   (AP Photo)
The world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet, part of the Large Hadron Collider.
The world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet, part of the Large Hadron Collider.   (AP Photo)
The LHC in its tunnel at CERN.
The LHC in its tunnel at CERN.   (AP Photo)
A European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientist controls a computer screen showing traces of the first protons injected in the Large Hadron Collider.
A European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientist controls a computer screen showing traces of the first protons injected in the Large Hadron Collider.   (AP Photo)
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