Experience with MPS during the 2010 run

In 2010 the LHC stored beam energy was pushed to 25 MJ, ten times above TEVATRON, in little over 6 months. No machine protection issues were recorded, and the reliability of the machine protection system (MPS) did not impact beam operation in a significant way. After an initial phase of low intensity beam operation that was used among other things for the commissioning of the MPS, the intensity was increased in steps of a factor 2 up to 2 MJ. Following a stability run at 2 MJ, the intensity was increased in steps of around 3 MJs every few days during train operation. The intensity steps and upcoming MP issues were approved and discussed in the restricted Machine Protection Panel (MPPr) composed of representatives from the main MP sub-systems. Two reviews of the MPS were organized in 2010, one internal and one external review. This presentation will discuss the performance of the MPS, the experience from the MPPr and of the intensity increase and the outcomes of the reviews.