A European court says the idea a new supercollider project could create a “celestial vacuum” and eventually consume the Earth is worth discussing, but the project can move forward on schedule anyway.

At dispute is what could happen should planned experiments at the supercollider built near Geneva by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, go awry when the massive atomic particle smasher is fired up about this time next week.

Several scientists led by spokesman Otto Rossler, a German chemist, have filed a case in the European Court of Human Rights seeking a delay in the project’s opening while the potential problems are studied further.

Rossler said in a report in the Telegraph that the sponsoring organization has admitted its work will create black holes – but it doesn’t think that will be a risk. He has another opinion.

“My own calculations have shown it is quite plausible that these little black holes survive and will grow exponentially and eat the planet from the inside. I have been calling for CERN to hold a safety conference to prove my conclusions wrong but they have not been willing,” he said…