Inside multi-billion dollar plan to build new tunnel under the Swiss Alps
& Tessa Charles
Scientists have unveiled a 70-year plan to build a massive, 91km tunnel under the Swiss Alps to house the Future Circular Collider (FCC).
The FCC, more than three times larger than the current Large Hadron Collider, will collide electrons and positrons in its first stage for precise Higgs boson measurements.
The second stage involves colliding protons at much higher energies than the LHC, potentially uncovering new particles and addressing fundamental physics questions like dark matter and the matter-antimatter imbalance.
The project's estimated cost is around $18 billion for the first stage, with a significant portion allocated for tunnel construction.
While costly, the FCC is expected to yield scientific advancements and technological spin-offs, similar to the LHC's contributions to medical technology and software.
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