UNO and Underground Laboratories: UNO and Underground Laboratories Marvin L. Marshak
University of Minnesota
April 10, 2004
Brief History of U.S. Underground Labs: Brief History of U.S. Underground Labs Several mines used to measure cosmic ray underground muon flux
Late 1960’s, Davis installed neutrino detector in Homestake Mine
About 1980, several mines used for proton decay detectors: Fairport Harbor, Soudan, Silver King. Al Mann advocates for “National Underground Lab”
Late 2000, Homestake Mine announces closure. Ken Lande advocates for “National Underground Lab” at Homestake
Brief History of U.S. Underground Labs: Brief History of U.S. Underground Labs March 2001: Bahcall Committee designates Homestake as first-choice site
2001-2004: Homestake falters; other sites emerge
March 2004: NSF announces new process to advance U.S. deep underground lab
No Agreement on Purpose of the Lab: No Agreement on Purpose of the Lab Do everything you can think of
Focus on “breakthrough” research
Advance outreach and/or policy objectives
No Agreement on Characteristics of the Lab: No Agreement on Characteristics of the Lab Compact vs. extensive
Moderately deep vs. ultra-deep
Horizontal access vs. vertical access
Location relative to accelerators and/or beam
No Agreement on What Gets Done First: No Agreement on What Gets Done First Large and moderately deep
Small and ultra-deep
Access to extensive rock
Neutrino beam
Nine Sites: Nine Sites “O’Hare Airport”: baseline site
Kimballton: limestone mine in Virginia
Soudan: existing lab and NUMI beam
Ash River: off-axis on NUMI beam
Homestake: access to depth, knowledge of rock, infrastructure
Henderson: modern infrastructure
WIPP: DOE-owned, modern infrastructure
San Jacinto: escarpment
Icicle Creek: escarpment
Why Homestake?: Why Homestake? Risk: Knowledge of rock, state support
Broader Impacts: EPSCoR
Time: Existing access to depth
Cost: Some existing infrastructure
Why Soudan?: Why Soudan? Risk: Existing lab, demonstrated project management
Broader Impacts: Ongoing outreach program
Time: Existing lab, can do some things immediately
Cost: Existing infrastructure
Ash River: Ash River Off-Axis version of Soudan
What Happens Next?: What Happens Next? UNO must advocate for Henderson
Submit NSF Phase 2 proposal
Do studies related to site
UNO should also participate in Phase 1. How?
What then?