Actions to Mitigate the Radiation Damage to Electronics at the LHC

The level of flux of hadrons with energy in the multi MeV range expected from the collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) interaction Points 1, 5 and 8 and from the collimation system at Point 7 will induce Single Event Errors (SEEs) in the standard electronics present in many of the control equipment installed in LHC underground. Furthermore, a risk of SEEs induced by thermal neutrons cannot be excluded. Such events would perturb the LHC operation, possibly leading to a stop of the machine. Main mitigation actions will be implemented during the first LHC Long Shutdown of 2013/2014 (LS1) to reduce the SEE occurrence. This paper summarizes the mitigation measures and their associated foreseen improvements in terms of SEE. It presents the organization process and associated planning, highlighting the impacts on the overall LHC LS1 planning and the main concerns during implementation.