CERN Is Ready To Shut Down Accelerators Due To Energy Crisis
The European energy crisis is also having an impact on the important basic research at CERN. Because the systems operated there require a lot of electricity. Above all, those responsible want to ensure the security of the local networks. “Our real concern is grid stability, we are doing everything we can to prevent a blackout in our region,” Serge Claudet, chairman of CERN’s energy management committee, told the US business daily Wall Street Journal.
The main aim is to be able to switch off some of the particle accelerators quickly if the demand for electricity is too high or the supply is too low. Across Europe, a number of factors are currently converging that are putting significant pressure on the energy market.
The Russian regime is using the continent’s dependence on natural gas as a weapon in economic warfare. In addition, due to the climate crisis, a number of nuclear and hydroelectric power plants are not providing the usual performance. In France, various nuclear power plants are still out of service due to age and lack of maintenance.
LHC is said to be running
Large consumers in particular are therefore confronted with difficulties everywhere and are partially shutting down their work. But that doesn’t just apply to energy-intensive branches of industry, but also to a research facility like CERN. In peak operation, this draws around 200 megawatts, which is almost a third of what the nearby city of Geneva needs.
The priority of the CERN management is currently to keep the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in operation. This is the largest of the facility’s eight particle accelerators. After all, the machine cost around 4.4 billion dollars and there is correspondingly great interest in the system running and delivering data for as long as possible.
After all, switching off the other accelerators could save 25 percent of the energy. They are also in contact with the electricity supplier, the French company EDF, in order to find out, if possible a day in advance if a reduction in consumption is necessary.
Media coordinator and junior editor at Research Snipers RS-NEWS, I studied mass communication and interested technology business, I have 3 years experience in the media industry.
