CERN – Statement about UK referendum on the EU

Dear Colleagues,

Many people have expressed their concerns about the consequences of the 23 June vote in the UK for CERN, and for the UK’s relationship with CERN. CERN is an intergovernmental organisation subject to its own treaty. We are not part of the European Union, and several of our Member States, including Switzerland, in which we are headquartered, are not EU Members. Britain’s membership of CERN is not affected by the UK electorate’s vote to leave the European Union. We look forward to continuing the very constructive relationship we have shared with the UK, one of our founding members, long into the future.

Particles are back in the LHC

On Friday, the LHC opened its doors to allow particles to travel around the ring for the first time since the year-end technical stop (YETS) began in December 2015. At 10:30 a.m., a first bunch was circulating and by midday the beam was circulating in both directions. Progress over the weekend has been good and low intensity beam has already been taken to 6.5 TeV and through the squeeze.