CERN May Shut Down Large Hadron Collider, Other Particle Accelerators Due to European Energy Crisis

A visitor takes a phone photograph of a large backlit image of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the Science Museum's 'Collider' exhibition in London on Nov. 12, 2013. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is planning to shut down some of its particle accelerators, including the world’s biggest particle accelerator—the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)—amid an energy crisis in France.

CERN, located near the France–Switzerland border, consumes about 200 megawatts of electricity during peak operation. This is nearly a third of the electricity consumption in Geneva, the second most populated city in Switzerland. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Serge Claudet, chair of CERN’s energy management panel, said that the organization is drafting a plan to shut down a few of its particle accelerators during periods of peak demand.