U.S. contributes to Large Hadron Collider

WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy says its contribution to the Large Hadron Collider under construction in Switzerland has been completed.

The Energy Department and the National Science Foundation said the U.S. contribution -- $531 million in several key components, including two particle detectors -- was completed on budget and ahead of schedule.

"The success of the U.S. LHC project is based on the quality of the U.S. teams, and national and international collaboration," Energy Department Undersecretary for Science Raymond Orbach said. "The U.S. groups, from universities and national laboratories, worked extraordinarily well together. We celebrate their accomplishments and, together with them, look forward to extremely exciting science coming from the LHC."

Scientists predict that the LHC's very-high-energy proton collisions will yield extraordinary discoveries about the nature of the physical universe.

The LHC is expected to generate its first particle collisions later this year. When the LHC begins scientific operations, U.S. physicists will make up the largest group of scientists from any single nation, officials said.