Machine protection aspects of high-voltage flashovers of the LHC beam dump dilution kickers

The LHC Beam Dump System is required to safely dispose of the energy of the stored beam. In order to reduce the energy density deposited in the beam dump, a dedicated dilution system is installed. On July 14, 2018, during a regular beam dump at 6.5 TeV beam energy, a high-voltage flashover of two vertical dilution kickers was observed, leading to a voltage breakdown and reduced dilution in the vertical plane. It was the first incident of this type since the start of LHC beam operation. In this paper, the flashover event is described and the implications analysed. Circuit simulations of the current in the magnet coil as well as simulations of the resulting beam sweep pattern are presented and compared with the measurements. The criticality of the event is assessed and implications for future failure scenarios are discussed.