Largest particle accelerator to start operation

The world's most powerful particle accelerator will start operation next month with an aim to explore the secrets of the universe, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), housed in a 27-kilometer tunnel that runs between Lake Geneva and the Jura mountain range, will seek to collide two beams of particles at close to the speed of light.

Scientists hope the collision will recreate conditions just after the Big Bang, which happened some 13.7 billion years ago and gave birth to the universe.

They will use the experiment to study the make-up of 'dark matter' - the invisible mass of energy that is believed to form 96 percent of the universe.

"The first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC will be made on Sept. 10," the Geneva-based CERN said in a statement.

The LHC is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, producing beams seven times more energetic than any previous machine, and around 30 times more intense when it reaches design performance, probably by 2010.

Some 10,000 scientists from around the world have participated in the construction of the 10 billion Swiss franc (9.5 billion U.S. dollars instrument, which started in 1994.

GENEVA, Xinhua