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Large Hadron Collider: Weasel causes shutdown | Large Hadron Collider: Weasel causes shutdown |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern is offline after a short circuit - caused by a weasel. | |
The unfortunate creature did not survive the encounter with a high-voltage transformer at the site near Geneva in Switzerland. | |
The LHC was running when a "severe electrical perturbation" occurred in the early hours of Friday morning. | The LHC was running when a "severe electrical perturbation" occurred in the early hours of Friday morning. |
A spokesman for Cern said that the weasel did not get into the tunnels, just the electrical facilities. | A spokesman for Cern said that the weasel did not get into the tunnels, just the electrical facilities. |
360-degree tour of Cern's Large Hadron Collider | |
Large Hadron Collider discovers new pentaquark particle | |
Arnaud Marsollier told the BBC that it would take a few days to repair the damage caused by the weasel's visit. | |
He added that while it was, fortunately, not every day that an animal affected the equipment, it was not that surprising as the research facility is in the countryside. | |
In 2009 the LHC was taken out by what was suspected to be a bird, though no remains were found. | |
Such "small issues" with the equipment were all part of the running of the LHC, Mr Marsollier said, and experts were used to carrying out repairs. | |
Cern's own report on the incident says that the weasel got into a 66kV transformer. The transformer connections were damaged. | |
"Not the best week for LHC!" it says. | |
Smashing particles | |
BBC iWonder: What will the Large Hadron Collider discover next? |
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