Future Circular Collider: CERN Unveils Plans for Giant Successor to Large Hadron Collider

Scientists at the world’s largest particle accelerator have unveiled a blueprint for an even bigger successor, which could help unlock new mysteries in physics, Jamey Keaten reported for The Associated Press (AP).

CERN officials emphasize that the new collider could drive breakthroughs in cryogenics, superconducting magnets, and vacuum technologies with real-world applications. I Image: CERN

The newly published plans for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) propose a nearly 91-kilometer (56.5-mile) loop beneath the French-Swiss border, extending even under Lake Geneva.

The study finalizes key details of the project, which has been in development for roughly a decade at CERN—the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It outlines the collider’s proposed path, scientific goals, environmental impact, and estimated cost.

Independent experts will now review the proposal before CERN’s 24 member states—all European, except for Israel—decide in 2028 whether to proceed. If approved, construction would begin in the mid-2040s, with an estimated cost of 14 billion Swiss francs (approximately $16 billion).

CERN officials emphasize that the new collider could drive breakthroughs in cryogenics, superconducting magnets, and vacuum technologies with real-world applications.

Scientists outside the project point to the collider’s potential for further studying the Higgs boson—the elusive particle that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang.

“This provides an exciting opportunity for the particle physics community, and indeed for all of physics, on the world stage,” said Dave Toback, a professor of physics and astronomy at Texas A&M University. Toback previously worked on the Tevatron collider at Fermilab in the U.S., which was decommissioned in 2011.