CERN unveils plan to build 91km Future Circular Collider under Europe
By Brianna Morris-Grant and wires
Topic:Science and Technology
10m ago10 minutes agoTue 1 Apr 2025 at 5:56am
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Europe's largest physics lab is planning to build a 91km tunnel beneath France and Switzerland — allowing it to smash tiny particles together with eight times more energy than before.
The new tunnel would be the successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which runs in a 27km loop deep beneath the France-Switzerland border.
The massive machines beam subatomic particles at high speed around giant underground rings, crashing them into each other to see what happens.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) released its feasibility study for the project this week.
Here's what we know.
Huge caverns, multiple research sites and tunnels under Lake Geneva
The Future Circular Collider (FCC) would involve more than 150 institutes in over 30 countries, according to CERN.
The 91km ring would have an average depth of 200 metres.
A digital map of the countryside with a large circle marked out in a dotted line
CERN released a digital map of its preferred route. (Image: CERN)
If approved, the 5.5 metre-wide tunnel would pass under Lake Geneva in Switzerland and then loop back through the French countryside.
It would have eight research sites on the surface, seven in France.
Its two main experiments would require huge underground caverns of up to 66 metres tall to house the equipment.
A digital rendering of a metal pipe in a tunnel
CERN also released an artist's impression of what the inside of the collider would look like. (Image: PIXELRISE)
CERN laboratory chief Fabiola Gianotti told AFP the new collider would "increase and improve the knowledge of humanity".
"[We are] trying to answer questions that have been with us, human beings, since we started to populate our planet Earth," she said.
"Where are we coming from? Where are we going? These are existential questions that we ask ourselves every day.
"And so, particle physics tries to address those questions."
CERN's feasibility study outlined two possible phases.
The first, an electron-positron collider, "would provide unprecedented precision measurements" of particles.
The second phase, a proton-proton collider, would enable those collisions up to eight times faster than the LHC.
Dark matter, dark energy and antimatter — the mysteries still to be solved
There are still plenty of mysteries left to be solved when it comes to matter.
The Large Hadron Collider was only designed to run until 2040, when it will complete its research mission.
The LHC famously discovered the "God particle" — also known as the Higgs boson, a fundamental fore-carrying particle giving all other particles their mass.
That discovery was made in 2012, during the LHC's first run.
It is currently on its third run of operations, planned to last until 2026.
According to CERN, the future collider could shed more light on dark matter, dark energy and antimatter.
The new tunnel would allow them to smash particles together with eight times more intensity and have far more sensitive detectors.
They hope this would let them discover lighter or heavier particles than we already know about.
The project's estimated $27 billion price tag
Construction will cost an estimated 15 billion Swiss francs — $27.18 billion Australian dollars.
According to CERN, this price tag covers the first phase of the collider and its four planned experiments over 12 years.
The cost has understandably raised some eyebrows.
Germany, CERN's top funder, criticised the project last year — saying it could not afford to fund it.
Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research said in 2024: "Germany is not in a position to provide the planned funding."
However, CERN spokesman Arnaud Marsollier insisted up to 80 per cent of the cost would be covered by the organisation's budget.
artist impression of protons colliding inside a tunnel
Artist's impression of a detector for the FCC-ee (for the electron-positron collider phase) (Image: Polar Media )
And if CERN did not get approval, Ms Gianotti said Europe ran the risk of losing its spot as a leader in fundamental physics.
"A big project always raises questions about its funding," she said.
"It was the same with [the LHC] was put on the table for approval.
"And I think it's very important, especially at times of geopolitical conflict and tension … to invest into good values, into science, into technology, to give hope, also to the younger generation."
She said CERN would work to "improve the assessment of the cost" over the next year.
A 'once-in-a-generation' build starting in the 2030s
CERN's "tentative" timeline puts the start of construction in the 2030s.
With the feasibility study completed, CERN's member states and partners will make a decision on whether or not to move forward "around 2027-2028".
The first phase of operation, the electron-positron collider, would begin in the mid-2040s and run for approximately 15 years.
The second phase, the proton-proton collider, would begin operations in the 2070s and run for approximately 25 years.
"For context, the physics case for the LHC was made in 1984," CERN said.
"It then took some 10 years to be approved and 25 years for the magnets to be developed and installed.
"Colliders are once-in-a-generation endeavours."
ABC/AFP
Posted10m ago10 minutes agoTue 1 Apr 2025 at 5:56am
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