Fermilab's legendary atom-smasher is shut down
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The beam and ramp controls are shut down in the Main Control Room as the Tevatron accelerator is shut down for good Friday at Fermilab. The image was taken from a video feed. Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer
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Associate staff scientist Ben Kilminster signs off from the video feed in the Collider Detector experiment control room as staff members applaud the final run of the Tevatron accelerator Friday at Fermilab in Batavia. Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer
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A computer monitor in the Main Control Room shows the particle beam, left, and energy levels dropping off as the Tevatron is shut down for good at Fermilab in Batavia. Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer
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For the Tevatron accelerator at Fermilab, the main ring is on the right, and the main injector accelerator on the left. The accelerators are 25 feet below grade. Associated Press
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T-shirts celebrating the Tevatron's last run were plentiful during the celebration Friday at Fermilab in Batavia. Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer
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Fermilab employee J.J. Schmidt of St. Charles takes pictures of the festivities as the Tevatron is shut down Friday afternoon. Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer
It was the end of an era as the Tevatron accelerator was shut down Friday afternoon at Fermilab in Batavia. The once most powerful accelerator in the world had its title usurped by the Large Hadron Collider in Europe in 2009. And when the laboratory couldn't get enough U.S. money to keep running the Tevatron a few more years as well as build new experiments, lab officials decided to focus on the future.
Circumference: The main ring is 4 miles around.
Depth: The tunnel is 25 feet below grade. There is a berm on top.
Temperature: The cable inside the superconducting magnets is cooled to -450 degrees Fahrenheit.
What's in it: A lot of stuff, but the stars are the 1,000 superconducting magnets that conduct electrical current without resistance. That extra strength enables acceleration to a higher energy.
Energy: 1.8 trillion volts.
Particle detectors: Two, the DZero and CDF. Each weighs about 5,000 pounds.
Initial cost: $120 million when completed in 1983 -- but lab officials point out it built on existing facilities, and would have cost more to build from scratch.
SOURCE: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
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