Damage to particle collider forces two-month halt

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) says its new particle collider has been damaged more than previously thought and will be out of commission for at least two months.

Spokesman James Gillies said experts have gone into the Large Hadron Collider to examine the damage which halted operations soon after the start-up.

Gillies said the sector which was damaged would have to be warmed up well above absolute zero so that repairs could be made.

He said today that Cern would have to shut off the new particle collider to do the repairs.

Gillies said supercooled helium escaped because of a faulty electrical connection between two magnets in the massive machine.

The project released a statement which said: "Cern 's strict safety regulations ensured that at no time was there any risk to people.''

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