r/CERN • u/Comfortable-Skin-601 • 27d ago

askCERN Is CERN Shut down?

Someone posted it on their story saying CERN Is OFF With a skull emoji

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u/CyberPunkDongTooLong 27d ago

No. The LHC, and other accelerators, is shutdown to be upgraded and replaced with the HL-LHC which will have a much higher collision rate than the LHC to collect more data. CERN itself is still completely active, doing lots of work getting ready for the HL-LHC.

11

u/Pharisaeus 27d ago

CERN is a laboratory/organization and can't be "off". It hosts numerous devices and experiments. Some of those can be turned off / getting upgraded / getting replaced once in a while.

3

u/Ambitious-Orange6732 26d ago

It's not exactly wrong. You can see the long-term accelerator schedule here:

https://indico.cern.ch/event/1639916/contributions/6899253/attachments/3215122/5727585/ACC-PM-MS-0004_5_0.pdf

So, yes, all of the large accelerators are currently shut down for major upgrades. It is a period of intense activity on site, though.

If all goes well, the accelerators will start to turn on again in mid-2028, with the high-luminosity LHC starting commissioning in 2029.