Open-access content [Jack Loughran](/authors/jack-loughran) — Tue 1 Apr 2025
**CERN, Europe’s largest physics laboratory, has said there are no technical obstacles in its proposal to replace the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with the supersized Future Circular Collider (FCC) to enable more advanced science experiments.**
The FCC, which was first proposed in 2014, would cost an estimated $17bn (£13bn) with a circumference of 90.7km, an average depth of 200 metres and eight surface sites for up to four experiments. In comparison, the LHC is just 27km long, which limits the number and type of experiments that can be carried out. The high cost of investment would be distributed over a period of about 12 years, starting in the early 2030s, and the majority of the funding would come from CERN’s current annual budget.
An FCC feasibility study outlines two stages: an electron–positron collider serving as a Higgs, electroweak and top-quark factory, followed at a later stage by a proton–proton collider, similar to the LHC but achieving much greater collision energy.
If built, the new project would not be ready until the 2040s, although CERN hopes it could enable more of the kind of groundbreaking science experiments achieved at the LHC, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson particle in 2012.
The proposed location for FCC, next to the LHC. – CERN
For context, the physics case for the LHC was made in 1984; it then took about 10 years for the project to be approved and 25 years for the magnets to be developed and installed.
The study assessed 100 possible scenarios for the FCC before landing on its exact dimensions based on cost and science utility.
Particle colliders have helped to enable the development of technologies in many fields ranging from superconducting materials for medical applications, fusion energy research and electricity transmission, and detectors for medical and other applications.
Philippe Chomaz, chair of the FCC International Collaboration Board, said: “The FCC feasibility study demonstrates not only the technical viability of the project, but also the strength of the international community that supports it.
“As we move towards the next step in the decision-making phase, this collective effort is key to showing a possible path forward. The FCC promises far-reaching scientific opportunities and long-term benefits for innovation, training, and global collaboration in science and technology.”
In recent years, China has been engaging in early plans to build a next-generation particle collider that would be cheaper and more powerful than the FCC. The 100km Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) would aim to measure the Higgs boson in unprecedented detail as well as other science experiments. The CEPC plans will go before the Chinese government this year, and, if approved, construction could begin as early as 2027.
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