LHC could be shut until Spring

New fault may halt experiment until 2009

The Large Hadron Collider may be out of action until next year

A new fault on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could see the device shut down until next year.

Cern is reporting that a faulty electrical connection between two magnets caused a large helium leak on Friday, and that the section of the collider will have to be repaired.

It will take a month to heat up the section so that it can be safely repaired, and then another month to cool it back down so that it can be used in experiments.

"For the same fault, not uncommon in a normally conducting machine, the repair time would be a matter of days," said Cern.

"A full investigation is underway, but it is already clear that the sector will have to be warmed up for repairs to take place."

However, Cern has said that it will not run the collider during winter months to avoid draining local power systems. When in operation the LHC uses enough electricity to power the city of Geneva.

This is the second fault to hit the LHC since operation began on 10 September. A 30-ton transformer malfunctioned within hours of testing and had to be replaced.

In related news the LHC rap performed by scientists at the LHC (and now viewed by over four million people) has now become so popular that it is being offered as a ringtone by American company Funmobility.