At the March meetings of CERN’s governing body, Council, the laboratory’s management presented preliminary ideas for absorbing the cost overrun for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project identified last year. These focus more of the laboratory’s resources on the LHC, with compensatory reductions being made in other scientific programmes.
Under the management’s proposals, the running time for CERN’s existing accelerators could be reduced by up to 30% each year until the LHC starts up. The largest accelerator, the Super Proton Synchrotron, which provides test beams for the LHC experiments and supports the current high-energy programme, would not run at all in 2005. Other potential areas for savings have been identified in long-range research and development, LHC computing, the fellows and associates programme (CERN fellowships are fixed-term appointments for young people; associateships allow sabbatical periods to be spent at CERN later on), and general overheads. Savings could also be made in services contracted in to the laboratory. The total amount to be redirected to the LHC is expected to amount to SwFr 500 million (€ 341 million).
The plan envisages LHC start-up in 2007 and full payment for the new facility by 2010 with no budget increase. CERN’s director-general, Luciano Maiani, nevertheless urged Council to consider an increase in the laboratory’s budget over the medium term. This would allow the LHC to be financed by 2009 and would enable limited research and development to continue, standing the laboratory in good stead for the longer term.
CERN’s staff association, along with French and Swiss unions representing employees of companies working on the CERN site, also made their opinions known by presenting letters to Council. The staff association argued that in its opinion, more resources are needed to complete the LHC. The unions expressed their concerns over the impact of cutbacks at CERN on local employment.
A decision on the management’s proposals will be taken at the next meeting of Council in June. By then, the report of an external review committee set up in November (see CERN reacts to increased LHC costs) will be ready, and management proposals will also be complete. In the meantime, Council agreed to release SwFr 20 million from the 5% of the laboratory’s 2002 budget initially held back pending resolution of LHC funding issues. In a separate initiative, the Swiss delegation said that Switzerland would advance SwFr 90 million to CERN over the next three years, to be deducted from later contributions.
