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Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A helium leak at midday Friday 19 September in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at Cern has not caused any injuries but the LHC will have to be shut down for at least two months to allow it to be warmed up and repairs carried out, Cern announced Saturday afternoon.

Cern, the European Organization for Nuclear Physics, is the world’s leading centre for particle physics research and its long-awaited LHC machine was put into operation only 10 days ago. The official press release described the incident: “During commissioning (without beam) of the final LHC sector (sector 34) at high current for operation at 5 TeV, an incident occurred . . . resulting in a large helium leak into the tunnel. Preliminary investigations indicate that the most likely cause of the problem was a faulty electrical connection between two magnets, which probably melted at high current leading to mechanical failure. CERN ’s strict safety regulations ensured that at no time was there any risk to people.”

The organization has been at pains to play down fears that its Big Bang replication operations could go wrong. In its Saturday press release the organization noted that this type of incident is not unusual in conducting machines and in a “normally conducting machine” repairs would take only days. The LHC is seven times more powerful than other conducting machines in the world.

Background, “Cern’s LHC goes live today!” 10 September 2008, GenevaLunch