The energy crisis resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has set off all the alarms, especially in Europa: Many voices claim that there will be consequences ranging from a possible global economic recession to power outages in many homes. With this panorama on the table, scientific laboratories are not saved either. Not even those that are far from the old continent.
The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), located in Geneva (Switzerland), already accumulates huge bills, since in its bowels it houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, for its acronym in English), the world’s largest particle accelerator where scientists from around the world search for answers that could lead to new physics. A 27-kilometer-long machine that needs approximately 1.3 terawatt hours at its peak (fact: the city of Geneva uses around 3 terawatt hours per year). After a two-year shutdown, where major upgrades have been made, the LHC was restarted last July. “The total cost of electricity is expected to be about 88.5 million Swiss francs (90 million euros),” he tells the magazine ‘Nature’ Joachim Mnichdirector of research and computation at CERN.
And that the governing council of CERN has agreed to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the installation in 2022 and 2023 after French Electricity (EDF), a French electricity supplier, asked the laboratory to reduce the load on its network. The board decided to move up the lab’s annual end-of-year technical shutdown by two weeks, to November 28, and reduce operations by 20% in 2023, to be achieved primarily by closing four weeks early next year, in mid- november. Operations will resume as planned at the end of February, in both 2023 and 2024.
CERN has also developed plans with EDF for reduced power configurations, should power use need to be further limited in the coming months. On the other hand, more modest energy-saving measures are being taken to reduce overall energy use on the CERN campus, including turning off street lights at night and delaying the start of the building’s heating by a week. “This is something we’re not doing primarily to save money, but as a sign of social responsibility,” says Mnich.
Mnich hopes that the advancement of the end of the activity of the LHC will not affect the science that derives from the experiments, although the researchers who had assigned time in the facilities during the period of the last two weeks that has now been canceled will have to wait. the next year.
problems elsewhere
The german electron synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg has also been affected by high prices. The facility buys much of its electricity in tranches up to three years in advance, to protect itself against sudden price spikes, so it has already purchased 80% of its energy needs by 2023, 60% by 2024, and 40% by 2025. But the laboratory will have to make a decision soon on whether to buy the remaining 20% for next year, he explains in the ‘Nature’ article. Wim Leemans, director of the accelerator division. “At current prices we can’t afford it,” he says.
DESY is in talks with the German government to seek additional funding to maintain operations that are contributing to key areas such as COVID-19 vaccine development, battery technology or solar power. But those responsible are also preparing for the worst: Next week, they will run tests to see how a lower energy setting on instruments like the European X-ray free-electron laser and the PETRA III synchrotron would affect experiments. As a last resort, DESY is also considering temporarily stopping the installations.
But outside Europe they are also feeling the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Canadian Light Source (CLS) in Saskatoon has pushed up electricity prices, and may have to make budget adjustments. And although they do not directly notice the energy crisis, they will do so indirectly, since given the limitation or closure of many instruments, it will mean that European researchers will try to use other similar ones located in less affected areas.