Large Hadron Collider - world's most ADVANCED machine shut down after a weasel chews wire
THE £4.8billion Large Hadron Collider had to be shut down after a weasel dug its way into a transformer.
The weasel chewed through a cable at the LHC
The famous 17-mile long particle accelerator at Cern, near Geneva, Switzerland, short circuited after a "severe electrical perturbation" in the early hours of Friday morning.
The little beech marten weasel did not survive the ordeal with the high-voltage transformer and the remains of the animal were found on the grounds outside the LHC next to a chewed cable.
Not the best week for LHC!
A Cern spokesman said the weasel got into the electrical facilities, not into the tunnels.
It is estimated it will take a few days to repair the damage caused by the weasel and could cost thousands of pounds.
The LHC is 17-miles long
The LHC - The Large Hadron Collider. What is the LHC, how does it work
A report of the incident by Cern said the weasel managed to get into a 66kV transformer, damaging the connections.
It said: "Not the best week for LHC!"
The LHC is in the countryside outside Geneva
The famous Higgs Boson particle was found using the LHC
An update on Monday from Cern, said: "Many of CERN’s sites are located in the countryside and similar events have happened a few times in the past.
"They are part of life of such an accelerator, as with any large industrial installation.
"A team assessed the situation over the weekend and found no indication of damage inside the transformer.
"Repairs to the connections are hoped to be completed by the end of the week, as the LHC continues to prepare for the 2016 physics run."
The LHC bounces high-energy particle beams into each other at almost the speed of light to help scientists understand some of physics' biggest questions.
As the weasel brought down the machine, which cost £4.8bn to build, it was gearing up for a new study on the Higgs Boson, the particle found by the LHC in 2012.
Work by the LHC will now be set back by two weeks.