How precisely will the total cross section be measured at the LHC?

It is very likely that hadronic scattering will enter a new regime at the LHC, as the black-disk limit is reached. This will lead to a severe change in the t dependence of the real part and of the slope of the elastic scattering amplitude, and in turn this may bias the measurement of the total cross section. We examine this issue, and suggest new strategies to test the reliability of the total cross section measurements.