Small electrical issues before CERN machine start-up

Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:14am EDT

GENEVA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Wednesday it experienced "small electrical problems" overnight but still intends to start up its particle-smashing machine as planned at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT).

Project leader Lyn Evans gave no details of the problems and said they had not altered the start-up time of CERN's 10 billion Swiss franc ($9 billion) Large Hadron Collider.

Scientists are hoping that experiments in the huge particle accelerator will re-enact the conditions of the "Big Bang" that created the universe, and unlock many of the remaining secrets of particle physics. (Reporting by Robert Evans, writing by Laura MacInnis)




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