Collider restart decision expected soon

Geneva, Switzerland -- Scientists in Switzerland are expected to make a decision soon on when to restart the Large Hadron Collider.

The "Big Bang" machine suffered a catastrophic malfunction after being started last September, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The newspaper said officials from the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, which built the device, have been in talks this week about when to restart the atomic collider.

A final decision on a start-date is expected following a meeting Monday.

The breakdown was blamed on a faulty electrical connection. As a result, 53 of the magnets used to accelerate sub-atomic particles around the machine's 17-mile underground tunnel had to be brought to the surface for repair or cleaning.

"CERN's priority for 2009 is to get collision data for the experiments, but with caution as the guiding principle," said Steve Myers, CERN's director for accelerators.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.