CERN Accelerating science

CERN actively participates in and/or coordinates projects co-financed by the European Union (EU) under its research and innovation programmes, notably Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.

Among the 60+ EU projects running at CERN in 2023, 14 have a strong knowledge-transfer component. CERN coordinates six of the main initiatives; AIDAinnova, ATTRACT2, ATTRACT1B, I.FAST, PRISMAP, RADNEXT, HEARTS. The total EU funding for all seven projects amounts to circa 70 MEUR and is distributed among the participating institutes and companies. These projects develop and promote the use of accelerator and detector technologies and test facilities in Europe for various industrial and societal applications.

Over the last century, the progress in transport has shaped our world we know today, one of growth and globalization. But this progress did not come without costs for society, especially in terms of pollution. In addition, transport is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. It has become urgent to transform our transport infrastructure and invent cleaner, safer and more efficient mobility solutions in all the sectors: aviation, shipping, rail and automotive. CERN's multidisciplinary expertise can play an important role.

Some examples of relevant poles of competence and related projects/collaborations:

SC Lines for on-board and grid power distribution

Superconducting technologies have fuelled some of the greatest discoveries in high-energy physics. Superconducting lines (cables, cryostats, current leads) dare an enabling technology to reduce losses and cost where high power transmission is necessary.

This can be the case for instance in aviation: CERN and Airbus have launched an innovative collaboration to explore the potential use of superconducting technologies developed by CERN for particle accelerators in the electrical distribution systems of future hydrogen-powered aircraft. Superconducting technologies could drastically reduce the weight of next-generation aircraft and increase their efficiency. The partnership focuses on the development of a demonstrator known as SCALE (Super-Conductors for Aviation with Low Emissions).

More in general, large transportation systems like ships, trains and trucks can benefit of on-board SC power distribution, especially if they are anyway equipped with liquid hydrogen tanks and fuel cells delivering significant electrical power.

Superconducting power lines are suitable also for long distance grid applications or for power distribution in big data centres. To meet our increasing electricity demand despite seasonal fluctuation in wind and solar energy, future transmission grids will have to reliably transfer high electric power over distances of hundreds of kilometres – connecting consumption hubs with areas of production, which are often located far away. Superconducting electrical transmission lines can substitute overhead transmission lines and may represent an economically viable option. A part from SC know-how, the integration of SC cables in the grid requires the development of complex equipment operating in challenging conditions (including sub-sea), like cryostats with thermally insulated walls requiring vacuum layers. This is the topic of CIPEA project IVAC-RED (Insulation Vacuum of Superconducting Cables for Renewable Energy Distribution) in collaboration with the company SuperNode.

Liquid hydrogen storage and handling systems

Hydrogen is considered by all CERN’s Member States as a critical low carbon solution for the transition to net zero, but its safe high-density storage in liquid phase is a challenge as it requires cryogenic temperatures (20 K, below -253 ºC). CERN has key competences and unique facilities that can be shared with companies and organizations working on the development of systems for the storage and handling of liquid Hydrogen, in particular:

• Cryogenics (test benches, thermal flux measurements at 20K)
• Materials (welding process, leaks, mechanical tests at 20K)
• Vacuum (outgassing, modelling, pumping, evacuated walls)
• Surfaces (coatings and cold spray, including on composites)

An example of on-going project in this field is the collaboration with the Spanish company Applus+ in developing new testing capabilities for the mechanical characterisation of composite materials used for hydrogen tanks. A cryostat based on a CERN model, and adapted to the company’s needs thanks to CERN’s experience in cryogenics, will be built by the company at their premises and then be used to provide testing services to organisations developing compact liquid hydrogen storage solutions.

Autonomous and fast long-distance transportation

The development of future mobility should not exclude improvements in safety, security, reliability and comfort. Autonomous driving will bring tremendous benefits in safety, for the driver and passengers, as well as for other cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. It will improve driving efficiency by optimising transport flow, thus reducing transport-originated air pollution and fuel consumption. This technology relies on hardware-optimised machine learning algorithms that allow vehicles to take fast decisions and make quick predictions; software quite similar to the ones used at CERN to study collisions in the Large Hadron Collider. Together with CERN, Zenseact, a Sweden-based company owned primarily by Volvo Cars, has been exploring how CERN’s machine learning algorithms can be applied to other fields including avoiding collisions in autonomous vehicles.

Safe, effective and sustainable, railway transport will take a major role in future mobility systems. For both freight and passengers, speed will be determinant when choosing rail over other alternatives, such as plane, boat, or road. Among the most promising solutions are Hyperloop systems. Set to reduce travel times from hours to minute, this pod-like transportation system would travel at sonic or even ultrasonic speeds in high-vacuum tubes over several hundreds of kilometres. Initiated by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, this project might find inspiration in existing CERN technology and know-how in vacuum, cooling or civil engineering. It is the case of CERN's innovative CO2 cooling technology, currently being explored by the EuroLoop company for efficient cooling inside the Hyperloop capsule.

The production, transformation, storage and distribution of clean energy is critical to achieve  sustainable development goals and limiting global warming. As of today, the energy sector is by far the biggest source of human-caused emissions: heat and electricity generation is responsible for more than 30%  of the global greenhouse gas emissions (2022). To address climate change and protect the planet, this share needs to be drastically reduced. CERN’s technologies can facilitate the transition from fossil fuels towards a renewable and low-carbon energy mix.

Some examples of relevant poles of competence and related projects/collaborations:

Compact magnetic confinement fusion energy systems

Fusion research is undergoing an exponential growth in terms of new projects and unprecedented public and private investments. In this context, CERN has an opportunity to contribute with its scientific, technology and organizational expertise and play its role of large Research Infrastructure capable of enabling the integration of research themes and communities, and drive innovation in close collaboration with European Research Infrastructures and Industries. CERN can provide expertise and technical support in critical domains for magnetically confined fusion, including:

• Research and development activities in magnet science, including powering and protection of large superconducting magnet systems;
• Cryogenic and vacuum technologies for large superconducting magnet systems;
• High heat flux and radiation damage on materials and components;
• Test infrastructure and testing of materials, components and systems;
• Integration, automation and control of complex technical systems;
• Nuclear regulatory matters for large scientific experiments.

CERN has been collaborating with ITER for many years through a framework collaboration that generated more than 20 implementation projects in the last 15 years.

CERN has supported also Tokamak Energy, the first private company working on “desktop” fusion reactors, through numerical simulations of quench propagation and testing in the CryoLab up to 26.2 T one of their HTS Quality Assessment magnets for spherical tokamaks.

Accelerator driven systems and advanced small nuclear reactors

Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) are very promising particle accelerators applications for transmuting nuclear waste and generating electricity. By efficiently burning the minor actinides, ADS could conceivably transform the landscape of the waste-disposal and storage problem. Additional advantages are flexibility of fuel composition and potentially enhanced safety: nonfissile fuels such as thorium can be used in ADS without incorporating uranium or plutonium into fresh fuel; and an ADS can be shut down simply by switching off the accelerator (no risk of supercritical accident). The overall potential of ADS has been understood for two decades, but technological evolution is still necessary to improve the outlook for actual implementation. CERN has extensive fully applicable know-how in particle accelerators, beam windows and diagnostic systems. More in general, CERN expertise in advanced materials, thermal control and radiation effects could also greatly benefit the development of generation IV compact nuclear reactors (e.g. lead or lead/bismuth cooled fast reactors) with improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost.

CERN is collaborating at institutional level with SCK-CEN on the MYRRHA project, contributing to critical areas such as pulsed accelerators, safety, cryogenics, beam dumps, RF technology, reliability and beam diagnostics. CERN is also supporting private companies like Transmutex on topics related to technologies for particle accelerators, high-power targets and neutronics for nuclear power devices.

Technologies for fuel cells, batteries, solar panels and electrolyzers

CERN expertise can contribute to the development of many clean-tech solutions. As an example, CERN developed NEG (not-evaporable getter) thin film technology to provide the large and linear pumping required for the Large Hadron Collider). This technology can be used in thermal solar panels to maintain vacuum conditions maximising thermal insulation, reducing thermal losses and increasing the panel efficiency. This was done in particular by the company SRB Energy, which provided a large installation of high-temperature solar panels to the Airport of Geneva for both heating and cooling applications.

Other more recent examples are the CIPEA projects Compact Material Analysis for Batteries & Fast Fuel Cell Development (aiming to develop a compact and affordable pulsed neutron facility optimized for in-situ analysis of battery and fuel cell electrodes in collaboration with DAES) and Compact and low-cost light simulator for indoor photovoltaic cells development (integrating CERN’s ACCURATE chip into a characterisation tool for photovoltaic cells and IoT devices).