The HL-LHC annual meeting, held on 15 October, had a particular significance this year: we’re halfway between the beginning of the project in 2010 and the scheduled start-up of the machine for physics in 2026..., CERN Opinion.

The High-Luminosity LHC has reached its halfway point. The second-generation LHC project was launched eight years ago and is scheduled to start up in 2026, eight years from now. CERN Updates

In July, the fourth short model of the Nb3Sn quadrupole for the HL-LHC interaction regions was tested in SM18, Accelerating News #26.

Today the CERN prototype 2.2 m CCT was lowered into the cluster D test cryostat. Cold testing should start next week.

Following the 7th HL-LHC Annual Meeting held in Madrid on 13-17 November 2017, the 8th HL-LHC Collaboration Meeting will be organised at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland from 15 to 18 October 2018.

The first test of superconducting crab cavities to rotate a beam of protons was performed on 23 May using a beam from CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator. Read more: Accelerating News, Issue #25.

The construction of the 5.5-m long 11T dipole prototype was completed in May this year after several years of intense work. Read more: Accelerating News, Issue #25.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the launch of the civil engineering works took place on Friday 15 June 2018 with the presence of the CERN management, the French and Swiss Authorities and the CERN Council. Read more: Accelerating News, Issue #25.

The earthmovers are at work on the ATLAS site in Meyrin and at CMS in Cessy, digging the new shafts for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), CERN Bulletin.