U.S. neutrino megaproject takes shape in abandoned gold mine

"DUNE will be a giant in both budgetary and basic science terms: A cavernous multibillion-dollar Department of Energy facility one mile below the town of Lead, South Dakota that will serve as a catcher's mitt for ghostly particles called neutrinos, beamed from a lab located three states away. Particle physicists hope DUNE will finally settle the biggest open questions in their most coherent picture of the universe, the Standard Model. It might even speak to humanity's oldest question of all: why we (or any matter at all, really) even exist."

"At an event yesterday at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead—formerly the Homestake gold mine—project leaders and government supporters gathered to sign the first steel beam to be sent underground, beginning the detectors' construction. “As a South Dakotan, knowing that on this ground, our little piece of the planet, the fact that we are going to transform our understanding of matter is pretty incredible,” said U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson."

"DUNE is funded primarily through the Department of Energy, but is an international collaboration involving 38 countries—the 10 million pounds of steel for the first vessel were contributed by CERN in Europe. DUNE has been the dream of many in the physics community for more than two decades, says Sowjanya Gollapinni, co-spokesperson of the DUNE collaboration. “It's the moment when this becomes real.”"

"The neutrino is a nearly weightless particle that sails through matter like a phantasm. No other known particle is so shy in it"

DUNE is a large Department of Energy particle physics facility planned one mile underground near Lead, South Dakota. Neutrinos will be produced in a lab three states away and detected in a cavernous underground detector. The project is intended to address major open questions in the Standard Model and may provide insight into why matter exists at all. Construction started with the signing of the first steel beam for the underground detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Funding comes primarily from the Department of Energy, while the international collaboration includes 38 countries. CERN contributed 10 million pounds of steel for the first vessel. The neutrino is described as extremely elusive, passing through matter with little interaction.

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