SMH Products - finding the simple in the complex

Inside the 27-kilometre ring of CERN‘s Large Hadron Collider, beams of protons travel in ultra-high vacuum through separate chambers to avoid collisions with gas particles. At four locations around the ring, the beams are brought together inside a shared beam pipe, where they collide within major particle detectors. The vacuum chambers at these interaction points must interfere as little as possible with the emerging particles, requiring exceptional transparency to radiation. Beryllium is the only material capable of meeting these stringent conditions. With an atomic number of four, it causes minimal scattering while offering outstanding mechanical strength and thermal conductivity. Although lighter than aluminium, beryllium is significantly stronger than steel and can tolerate the mechanical and thermal stresses generated during operation. However, its toxicity and complex manufacturing process make it costly and difficult to produce.

The discontinuation of beam-pipe production by the last qualified industrial supplier placed CERN in a vulnerable position. With the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC upgrade requiring new beam pipes for several experiments, reliance on external suppliers was no longer viable. CERN therefore needed to internalize the entire production chain to ensure continuity, quality, and adaptability. The new 1000 m² facility will integrate advanced machining, surface treatment, welding, and vacuum-conditioning capabilities under one roof. This infrastructure enables CERN to meet unprecedented manufacturing tolerances, particularly for complex designs such as the conical beam pipe required by ALICE. Beyond addressing immediate HL-LHC needs, CERN required a long-term strategy to preserve critical know-how for future accelerators and to maintain independence in a highly specialized technological domain.

Having made the decision to manufacture the vacuum chambers onsite, the CERN project team needed to ensure both staff and the local environment were protected from the hazards associated with beryllium processing. Senior project manager Isabel Bejar Alonso had already recruited a UK consultant Beth Walker, from Safer Environment Ltd, to work with them to ensure safety was prioritised.

The hazards posed by beryllium are similar to those presented by asbestos. SMH Products had previously worked with Safer Environment in the asbestos industry, specialising in decontamination solutions. CERN had initially identified a company to provide a bespoke shower system for workers to ensure they don’t take Beryllium dust home, and that any beryllium dust is filtered out of waste water so it doesn’t contaminate the local environment. However the bespoke solution was very expensive, and CERN needed to find a more cost effective option that wouldn’t compromise on safety. Beth suggested UK-based SMH Products.

SMH Products have significant experience in developing decontamination solutions in the asbestos and nuclear industries from their factory in South Shields. Working with Safer Environment applying this knowledge to CERN’s beryllium facility was a challenge they were keen to take on.

Daniel Williams is regional manager at SMH Products. He said, “We were really interested to hear from Beth, as this is not a market we had previously considered. However there were a lot of similarities with our work in other sectors – it needed to be reliable, robust and easy to service. If the unit breaks down, the facility has to stop operations, so we needed to ensure parts were readily available. We also suggested designing it in such a way so that it could be relocated if necessary. It’s not dissimilar to what we have done in the nuclear sector – finding the simple in the complex.”

Daniel says, “Working with CERN was brilliant! Our designers met with the CERN specialist team, who were very easy to work with. We supplied an initial brief which CERN accepted, and as the project progressed we provided extra guidance and modifications, particularly to ensure it’s possible to service, matching our practical knowledge to CERNs specialist need. Isabel came over to do factory acceptance testing as well as going through the assembly process so it could be shipped as a flatpack to be reassembled on location by the CERN team.”

Initially SMH Products saw working with CERN as an unusual and interesting one-off project, but it has become much more than that.