BigBang machine LHC collider gets warning system

An official investigation into the accident at the Large Hadron Collider has recommended that an early warning system be installed.

This system would detect the early stages of a helium leak, following an incident that has shut down the LHC until June 2009.

The collider is built to smash protons together at huge speeds, recreating conditions moments after the Big Bang.

Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.

Basically, they have been pulled off their feet and the interconnects have been broken
says Lyn Evans, Cern
 
The report identified the uncontrolled release of one tonne of helium gas as the cause of damage to 53 superconducting magnets.

Better gas pressure release valves could avoid a repeat of the accident on 19 September, it says.

The investigation carried out for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), confirmed that the cause of the accident was an electrical fault in one of the connectors linking one of the 1200 superconducting magnets that accelerate sub-atomic particles around the LHC.

The fault triggered the release of helium gas within one of the magnets