Prospects for the reuse of excavated materials in the context of the Future Circular Collider (FCC)
Following four years of collaborative work, on 23rd April 2026 the CETU took part in the final meeting of the Excavated Materials Working Group of the European research project FCC IS, which officially concluded in November 2024.
This meeting provided an opportunity for the working group’s coordinator, Luisa ULRICI, to bring together at CERN all the partners who had contributed to the scientific output on the management and use of excavated materials potentially generated by the construction of the Future Circular Collider (FCC).
With a decision on the construction of the FCC due by 2028, the morning was devoted to a presentation on the progress of the studies conducted by CERN. Furthermore, the ‘long-standing’ partners were able to share the latest advances and updates relating to the working group’s themes. Finally, the afternoon was spent visiting the Openskylab: a full-scale experiment aimed at establishing the feasibility of creating fertile soils from molasse (the predominant material at the site proposed for the FCC) and organic amendments. This potential application had been highlighted during the “Mining the future” challenge, which aimed to identify innovative ways of utilising molasse.
Among the many issues raised by the construction of the FCC, a world-leading research facility, the management and utilisation of some 6 million cubic metres of excavated material will be one of the major challenges CERN will face in relation to the site selection and construction of the facilities.