The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected a proposal to produce a technical design for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory (DUSEL) at the former Homestake gold mine near Lead, South Dakota, site of the pioneering solar-neutrino experiment by Raymond Davis. A 22-member panel of external experts reviewed proposals from four teams and unanimously determined that the Homestake proposal offered the greatest potential for developing a DUSEL.
The selection of the Homestake proposal, which was submitted through the University of California (UC) at Berkeley by a team from various institutes, only provides funding for design work. The team, led by Kevin Lesko from UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, could receive up to $5 million a year for up to three years. Any decision to construct and operate a DUSEL, however, will entail a sequence of approvals by the NSF and the National Science Board. Funding would ultimately have to be approved by the US Congress. If eventually built as envisioned by its supporters, a Homestake DUSEL would be the largest and deepest facility of its kind in the world.
The concept of DUSEL grew out of the need for an interdisciplinary “deep science” laboratory that would allow researchers to probe some of the most compelling mysteries in modern science, from the nature of dark matter and dark energy to the characteristics of microorganisms at great depth. Such topics can only be investigated at depths where hundreds of metres of rock can shield ultra-sensitive physics experiments from background activity, and where geoscientists, biologists and engineers can have direct access to geological structures, tectonic processes and life forms that cannot be studied fully in any other way. Several countries, including Canada, Italy and Japan, have extensive deep-science programmes, but the US has no existing facilities below a depth of 1 km. In September 2006, the NSF solicited proposals to produce technical designs for a DUSEL-dedicated site. Four teams had submitted proposals by the January 2007 deadline, but in four different locations.
The review panel included outside experts from relevant science and engineering communities and from supporting fields such as human and environmental safety, underground construction and operations, large project management, and education and outreach.
Scientists from Japan, Italy, the UK and Canada also served on the panel. The review process included site visits by panellists to all four locations, with two meetings to review the information, debate and vote on which, if any, of the proposals would be recommended for funding.
