Exceptional transport operations to make way for HiLumi LHC
The first two massive components of the LHC have been removed from the accelerator tunnel following a complex handling operation
Written by:
Corinne Pralavorio
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We often hear about the remarkable components of the accelerators, but transporting this equipment sometimes requires measures that are just as impressive. Over the course of the third long shutdown (LS3), which started this summer, entire sections of the Large Hadron Collider and its detectors will be dismantled in order to make room for the components of the future HiLumi machine. As a result, CERN will be the site of some impressive manoeuvres.
A complex operation has just taken place with the removal of the first massive pieces of equipment from the LHC tunnel. Two beam dumps, 5-metre-long blocks made of iron, copper and marble weighing 30 tonnes, were brought up to the surface after an 8-hour journey for each of them.
These beam dumps, known as TAN absorbers, protect the accelerator’s magnets from the neutral particles produced by collisions and emitted in the direction of the beam. “These are among the heaviest and most cumbersome pieces of equipment that we will have to remove from the LHC during the shutdown,” emphasises Maria Perez Ornedo, who directed the project. “When they were installed in 2006, the tunnel was almost empty but, 20 years later, we have to transport them without damaging the existing equipment.”
The operation required three years of preparation, including the development and manufacture of a custom-made towing vehicle, as well as a rolling platform and jacking system. The transport operation constituted a real challenge. Each of the beam dumps completed a three-kilometre journey through the LHC tunnel, from the vicinity of the ATLAS experiment to the cavern housing the ALICE detector, where a bridge crane capable of lifting 30 tonnes hoisted it 100 metres to the surface. The convoy progressed slowly, sometimes squeezing through with barely a few centimetres to spare on either side.
Two other beam dumps will be removed from the accelerator in the coming weeks. They will be completely dismantled and their entire central section replaced. The new beam dumps will be installed in the HiLumi LHC in 2029.
Over the coming months, the handling teams will have to overcome many more logistical challenges to move, install or remove exceptionally large items of equipment essential to the LHC’s transformation.
Follow the progress of the third long shutdown on this dedicated page.