Sanford Underground Research Facility

From Tunnels and Tunneling, Feb. 19, 2020: Three of the underground construction components are near completion at the Sanford Underground Research Facility for the far site of Fermilab’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility. Work is finishing up on two ore passes that connect the 4850 Level, almost one mile underground, to skips in the Ross Shaft; the Ross Headframe, which must support the skips that bring the rock to the surface; and the tramway tunnel, which will house the conveyor system that will transport excavated rock to its final location.

From Black Hills Pioneer, Feb. 19, 2020: Data from the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment could help physicists explain the origin of matter, witness a never-before-seen particle decay and better understand how black holes form in space. To prepare for this groundbreaking science, a major construction project is under way to ready the Sanford Underground Research Facility for its role as the far site of Fermilab’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility.

The pre-excavation phase involves the reopening, rehabilitation and reinforcement of infrastructure created for gold mining operations decades ago.

From Black Hills Pioneer, Dec. 13, 2019: Scientists at Fermilab and the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota are eager to begin collecting data from the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which is hosted by Fermilab. But before the world’s largest neutrino experiment can begin producing results, more than 800,000 tons of rock will need to be removed from the 4,850-foot level of a former mine to make room for the detectors.

From Rapid City Journal, Nov. 28, 2019: The Ross and Yates Shafts were built in the 1930s and served as powerhouses for Homestake Mining Company for years. When asked what is most remarkable about these shafts, the experts unanimously agree — the engineering and craftsmanship that allow these shafts to be used to this day by Sanford Underground Research Facility.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will tackle some of the biggest mysteries in physics — and to do so, it will need the most intense high-energy beam of neutrinos ever created. Engineers are up to the complicated task, which will need extreme versions of some common-sounding ingredients: magnets and pencil lead.

The cryostat for Berkeley Lab’s LUX-ZEPLIN experiment — the largest direct-detection dark matter experiment in the U.S. — is successfully moved to its research cavern. This final journey of LZ’s central detector on Oct. 21 to its resting place in a custom-built research cavern required extensive planning and involved two test moves of a “dummy” detector to ensure its safe delivery.

From Black Hills Pioneer, Oct. 10, 2019: Representatives from the British Consulate, Fermilab and Sanford Underground Research Facility were on hand for a dinner in Rapid City, South Dakota, in honor of the Red Arrows and the ongoing scientific and technological relations between the UK and the U.S. In 2017, the UK committed $88 million to the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer notes that the first science and technology agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom was driven by neutrino physics.

From Rapid City Journal, Oct. 9, 2019: For the past 17 years, shovels, safety goggles, tramway cars and other remains of the defunct Homestake gold mine lingered in a closed-off tunnel under the city of Lead, South Dakota. Now the tunnel is alive with activity again, thanks to preparations for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab.

From Rapid City Journal, Oct. 10, 2019: Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer comments on British contributions to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment during an Oct. 8 event in which British air power and science were feted Tuesday in Rapid City, South Dakota. Honored guests included the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows Aerobatic Team, a British diplomat and a group of U.S. and international scientists associated with the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.