Two more join race for underground lab

By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal Staff - Rapid City Journal
Article Source

Two more proposals are now in the running for a national underground science lab, but a member of South Dakota's planning team said he thinks the odds are still good for the proposal to convert Homestake gold mine into an underground lab.

"I don't think it hurts the chances," said physicist Kevin Lesko, who serves as the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation's Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) process in South Dakota. "It slows the process down."

Gov. Mike Rounds said the state expected the latest proposals from Washington and Minnesota.

"I don't believe there's anything new in them," he said. "We don't know what the National Science Foundation is going to do, but I don't think this changes our position. We're still the inside favorite."

Last year the NSF named two "finalist" sites for DUSEL, a project that could generate billions of dollars in experiments in the years to come. Scientists use deep underground labs to shield sensitive experiments from cosmic rays. Finalists selected were the closed Homestake gold mine in Lead and the working Henderson molybdenum mine in Colorado. Both teams received $500,000 to prepare conceptual design reports.

But after the University of Washington complained to the NSF that its proposal was unfairly eliminated from the competition, the NSF agreed to open the next phase of the process to any U.S. college or university. The deadline for submissions was Jan. 9.

The universities of Washington and Minnesota submitted 250-page lab designs by Jan. 9, as did the teams from Homestake and Henderson. Washington and Minnesota were among the eight original project applicants. The NSF is expected to announce its choice for the DUSEL site in April.

Supporters of South Dakota's plan say it has several clear advantages over other proposals, including Homestake's depth (7,400 feet underground), its absence of ongoing mining activity, and strong financial backing.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., secured a $10 million federal grant for the project four years ago. The South Dakota Legislature has appropriated $35 million, and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford has donated $70 million to the lab, pending NSF approval.

University of Washington physicist Wick Haxton declined to comment Tuesday on that proposal, but he said details of the plan would be publicized later this week. He did confirm that the proposed site is a railway tunnel called the Pioneer Tunnel, west of Stevens Pass in the Washington Cascades.

Washington originally proposed boring a new tunnel beneath Cashmere Mountain, near Leavenworth, Wash.

Minnesota's latest proposal matched its earlier plan to build the DUSEL in the former Soudan Iron Mine north of Duluth, Minn. The 2,400-foot-deep mine closed in 1962 and is now used for physics experiments.

University of Minnesota physicist Marvin Marshak is optimistic about that site's chances.

"The strength of our plan is that we have existing facilities," Marshak said, including a neutrino beam from an Illinois lab and experimental rooms the size of a football field. "We have an existing lab that's been there for 25 years and we're proposing to expand it."

In other words, Minnesota would be expanding a science facility, not converting a mine or tunnel.

It would also be doing something else. "We've actually proposed more than just a lab," Marshak said. "We've proposed something we call an institute for underground science."

The idea is to use several existing facilities throughout the country n including Homestake n to conduct experiments.

"We don't view our proposal as being directly competitive with Homestake," said Marshak, who says he backs Homestake despite submitting a separate proposal. "If our proposal were selected, we would see Homestake as part of a multi-site plan to do underground science and technology in the United States."

Marshak said Minnesota would also hope to work closely with the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, "particularly to make sure that the very generous gift of Mr. Sanford is in fact used for science and technology . We're very interested in keeping his enthusiasm for Homestake at a high level."

Sanford is a University of Minnesota graduate.

Minnesota's proposal would make the most of what already exists, Marshak said. "You shouldn't just throw everything you have away and start again."

Lesko said it's important that supporters of all four proposals maintain a professional attitude, "as they are," and remember that they all have the same goal: Developing a national lab.

"That's what all of us want," he said. "After April 1 I hope we all pull together and continue to work on that dream."

The winning team will receive up to $5 million per year for the next three years to continue developing its plan. If DUSEL construction is funded by Congress, work could begin in fiscal year 2010.

Meanwhile, South Dakota is going ahead with plans to begin reopening the Lead mine, creating an "interim" DUSEL at 4,850 feet underground where scientists could begin experiments sooner. Rounds said the state planned to proceed "as if Homestake will be chosen."

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