3rd report from the LHC performance workshop

Outside it's a little warmer but Wednesday was spent inside looking forward to the long shutdown (LS1) planned for 2013/14. The total length of the shutdown for the LHC is provisionally around 20 months and there is a huge, huge amount of work on the cards. Provisional planning was presented.

The key driver is the splice consolidation work which foresees opening every magnet interconnect in the ring, measuring carefully the resistance of each joint in the cables which carry the current between the dipole and quadrupoles in the arcs of the LHC. It is estimated that 15% of the splices will be re-done; shunts and clamps will be installed across each splice. The aim is to definitively exclude the possibility of a repeat of the incident of 19 September 2008.

Besides this, each of the LHC experiments have extensive programs of maintenance and upgrades. Some of the key LHC systems (cryogenics, vacuum, quench protection system, electrical distribution, cooling, ventilation, access, and RF) will undergo major maintenance and improvements - their plans were also presented.

by Bulletin's correspondent from Chamonix