SURF

Crews with the Sanford Underground Research Facility will undergo the careful process of lowering about 380 steel beams a mile underground soon. Each beam weighs about 12,800 pounds.

SURF recently finished the overhaul of the Yates mine shaft that transports personnel and supplies for experiments underground, including DUNE. The Yates Shaft is one of two mineshafts inside 370 miles of tunnels and shafts that was once North America’s deepest gold mine.

South Dakota Senator Lee Schoenbeck recently visited the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, and shared his experiences and insights into the groundbreaking research.

Two colossal caverns, each more than 500 feet long and seven-stories tall, were completed to contain the gigantic particle detector modules for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, an international collaboration led by Fermilab. A third cavern will house utilities for operation of the DUNE far detector.

A mile beneath Lead, the beginning of quantum particle research is about to take shape.

With the caverns now open, detectors will start to make their way down over the next year to help with LBNF/DUNE.

A massive milestone was celebrated on the international Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment that will tell us more about the universe and how it works.

Josh Willhite, project manager for the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility run by Fermilab, gives South Dakota Public Broadcasting an update ahead of SURF’s Neutrino Day.

The Black Hills Pioneer covers what is DUNE and why is it important in a special section covering underground science in the Black Hills region. Starting on page 11, an interview with DUNE Physics Coordinator, Chris Marshall, discusses how the project will work and the science of DUNE.

The recent report published by the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel highlights the important role that Sanford Underground Research Facility plays in the advancement of U.S. particles physics and its support of the DUNE project. The P5 report recommends continued support for DUNE and funding for expansion of research space at SURF that will enable the U.S. to be an international host for neutrino and dark matter experiments.