Pictures have just been released of the damaged suffered by the Large Hadron Collider in September which forced it to be shutdown less than 10 days after it started operation. The damage was the result of an electrical fault that punctured a cryogenic liquid helium enclosure. This caused the gas to vaporized which, as it could not escape fast enough, led to an explosion. The blast of pressure damaged the neighboring sections of the machine.

The repair work consists of removing and reinstalling 53 of the 57 magnets used along the machine’s 27km track buried under the Swiss-French border near Geneva. The LHC is a superconducting machine so, in order to complete these repairs, it’s necessary to warm it from it’s operating temperature of -271.3°C. According to CERN, the estimated cost for repairs will be $29 million.

At this point, 28 magnets have been removed and the projected date for completion is March 2009 with testing beginning in June and the first collisions coming sometime in the third quarter. CERN will be meeting tomorrow, December 12, to establish an official date.

General Science CERN, Large Hadron Collider, LHC