CERN's HL-LHC Project

Overview

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, enables international collaboration in the field of high-energy particle physics. CERN designs, builds and operates particle accelerators and the associated experimental areas, which are housed in a complex network of underground tunnels, galleries and caverns in the Geneva Basin.

CERN’s High-Luminosity LHC project covers two nearly identical construction sites in Switzerland and neighbouring France on which a new shaft, cavern, underground galleries and industrial buildings will be constructed to house new accelerator equipment. The new underground structures have a total length of ± 1.25km and were excavated between 2018-2020 using traditional methods in molasse, close to the existing ATLAS and CMS detector caverns.

The works, valued at ± 135 MCHF, are rather complex due to the variety of structures and excavation sections, the connection to the existing LHC tunnel and the access constraints imposed by the single shaft at each site. CERN’s project manager for civil engineering will provide an overview of the project from design to construction at a moment in time when the underground works are almost complete. One of CERN’s physicists will be available to clarify how the project fits into CERN’s physics program .