Um, just a slight malfunction

Picture from: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/18/large-hadron-collider.html

The huge atom smasher in Switzerland was turned off Wednesday due to an electrical problem. The malfunction affected a cooling system for the high-powered magnets that steer the beams of shooting protons. A CERN spokesperson said that because it is a very complex piece of equipment it wasn't uncommon for a stoppage to occur. 

It was also mentioned in the article that the atom smasher took 20 years to build. Wow. I knew before that it took a long time but I was thinking like 10 years or something like that. 20 years is a looooooooong time. 

Well I hope they get it up and running again soon.