Plans for the newest particle accelerator to open later this year have taken a step backwards as it was discovered earlier this week the two separate teams working on the project had used different units to measure the size of the tunnel; meaning the two halves of the accelerator will not meet exactly. The Super Large Atom Smasher (SLAM) is a joint project between India and China which plans to run under part of Nepal, rivalling CERN as the largest particle accelerator on the globe. However, despite an approximated cost of $5billion, the two separate engineering teams used different units to measure the curvature of the tunnel, meaning the two halves will not meet. The team from China used meters (the standard SI unit) where as their Indian counterparts used feet. Both teams claim they had been told to use the choice of units by management and deny responsibility for the others mistake. Despite being eight years into the project it seems unless a solution can be achieved this would be one of the greatest (and most expensive) blunders in scientific history.
SLAM is located under large regions of the Himalayas which aim to provide protection from cosmic particles which can interfere with delicate recording devices.
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