U.S. and CERN Sign LHC Agreement

“Today, the United States commits itself to join with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, in an incredible exploration of one of the most fundamental questions of science: the nature of matter.” -- OSTP Director John Gibbons

At 11:02 this morning, in the ornate Indian Treaty Room of the Old Executive Office Building, representatives of the United States and CERN signed an agreement outlining American participation in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Coming approximately four years after Congress canceled the Superconducting Super Collider, the agreement represents a new era in international cooperation on mega-science projects.

Signing this agreement were DOE Secretary Federico Pena, NSF Director Neal Lane, CERN Director General Christopher Llewellyn Smith and CERN Council President Luciano Maiani. The United States agrees to provide $531 million in services and goods. Of this amount, DOE will invest $450 million, the remaining $81 million coming from NSF. Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley and Fermi national laboratories, according to DOE, “will use $110 million to design and produce advanced systems for the accelerator’s interaction regions where the detectors are located. The remaining $90 million will be used for procurements from U.S. industrial firms. The United States will also provide an in-kind contribution of components valued at $331 million to the massive detectors, known as ATLAS and CMS, with $250 million from the Department of Energy and $81 million from the National Science Foundation.” The U.S. contribution is capped at $531 million. Pena described this agreement as the “most cost beneficial way for America to participate” in the LHC.

All the speakers at today’s ceremony described the important breakthrough this agreement was in promoting international cooperation. Pena said that the agreement marked “the first time the U.S. government has agreed to contribute significantly to the construction, through domestically-produced hardware and technical resources, of an accelerator outside of our borders.” The U.S. contribution is approximately 10% of the collider and detectors’ total cost. Smith stated that “American participation in the LHC will inject a wealth of scientific experience, excellence and characteristic exuberance into the project.... This global collaboration in science will set a precedent a model for other fields to follow.” Achieving this agreement has not been easy, Smith quipping that “we have had a crash course in the American system of government.” He was referring to the somewhat difficult course the proposed U.S. collaboration has had in Congress. House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) had serious reservations with the initial outline of the U.S. - CERN agreement that were resolved (Pena saying Sensenbrenner was “very pleased.”) Many of today’s speakers included a favorable reference to Sensenbrenner, and other Members of Congress in their remarks.

In his statement, Lane characterized the LHC as “a quantum leap forward for international cooperation in science and technology, and it also represents a technological challenge of grand scale and proportion.” He also explained the importance of the new collider in promoting the public’s appreciation and understanding of physics; a future FYI will include his remarks.

NSF describes the LHC as a 7 TeV-on-7 TeV proton-proton collider. The facility’s overall cost is $6 billion. The Large Hadron Collider is expected to begin operations in 2005.