The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is said to be the longest tunnel created for experimental purposes. It extends up to 27 km long. However, talks about building an underground "atom-smasher" are now underway. This infrastructure is said to be four times the size of the Large Hadron Collider. It is proposed as a 100-km tunnel that would go around the city of Geneva. This decision came after the meeting of scientists at the European particle physics center.

According to plans, this new tunnel would reach the Alps, Jura Mountains and under Lake Geneva. The proposal is indeed a mind-blowing and record beating science facility. According to Dr. Rolf Heuer, director general of CERN (also known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research), it is now time to discuss the next step after LHC even if it has just started running a few years ago. There is a need to carry out early preparations so that there will be plenty of time, as the project is deemed ambitious. The LHC, for instance, just fully opened only three years ago when, in fact, discussions about its creation started way back in 1983.

Aside from Switzerland, Japan and China are also interested in the idea of hosting these huge colliders. However, according to European scientists, the infrastructure in CERN would provide bigger savings and its success is more assured. Other than the location, the size of the collider as well as the particles to be smashed is also hotly contested. Some experts would go for the collision of protons as what is being done in LHC. When the energies are collided under a more extreme condition, the closer it will mimic the actual Big Bang. It is also hoped that through this experiment, scientists can finally have a first glimpse of dark matter and other ideas yet to be discovered. Scientists believe that if nothing appears during the next phase of the LHC, there is a need to move to higher energies. A lot of questions are yet to be answered and solved.

According to John Osborne, a civil engineer in CERN, the creation of the tunnel should not be made complicated. If so, the full length of the tunnel could be excavated in just 5-6 years. Though this program is still at its initial phase, experts hope for a positive result.