Gigantic new CERN collider aims to unlock secrets of universe

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is planning an ambitious new mega-project: the Future Circular Collider (FCC). This next-gen particle accelerator, to be built deep beneath France and Switzerland, is designed to probe new physics and tackle fundamental questions about the universe.

CERN hopes the FCC could be operational by the mid-2040s, running beneath Geneva and even under Lake Geneva. The project would succeed the 27-kilometre Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which famously enabled the discovery of the Higgs boson — the so-called “God particle” that gives mass to other particles.

Estimated to cost around CHF15 billion (nearly $19 billion), the FCC would push beyond current scientific limits in the search for answers to some of the universe’s deepest mysteries. But the engineering challenge is immense. Construction would require excavating around 16 million tonnes of material and could demand as much electricity as a city of 700,000 people, raising concerns about environmental and energy impacts both within and beyond the scientific community.

The collider would form a 90-kilometre underground ring – roughly three times the size of the LHC – stretching beneath France and Switzerland. It is designed to study the Higgs boson in greater detail and explore unresolved questions in fundamental physics, including the nature of dark matter and the imbalance between matter and antimatter.

On May 22, the CERN Council endorsedExternal link the electron–positron version of the FCC as its preferred next flagship project. Its inclusion in the European particle physics strategy marks the transition of the FCC from concept to formal plan. A final decision on the project is expected in 2028.