News•Feb 25, 2026
Accelerator Report: Protons Are Heading Towards the LHC
The CERN accelerator complex is moving toward full LHC operation as beam commissioning progresses across the injector chain. The SPS has finished its first week of commissioning and entered a scrubbing run to condition vacuum surfaces for the high‑intensity beams required by the HL‑LHC. A vacuum leak in a tertiary collimator at Point 2 forced the replacement of two collimators, pushing the first LHC beam injection to 27 February. After injection, a nine‑day commissioning phase will ready the machine for physics and intensity ramp‑up.
