NSF agrees to fund Homestake lab for three years

By Katy Sulhoff, KNBN-TV
Article Source

Lead's Homestake Mine was chosen in July as the site for scientific research and experimentation of a very particular piece of matter. Now the project has funding and plans for a laboratory are underway. First of all, what is a neutrino? Unless you are the scientific type, you may not be familiar with this universe-sustaining particle of matter.

Dr. Tony Chan, Asst. Dir., National Science Foundation

"It is one of the fundamental constituents of matter, like electrons and quarks, and things like that. A neutrino has a special property that it can go through matter without detecting it."

Research of this scientific particle is the reason for building a multi-leveled, multi-disciplinary research lab in the Homestake Mine in Lead.

South Dakota won the bid for the site of this project, the Homestake Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or DUSEL.

The National Science Foundation has agreed to fund the project in the first three years, $5 million each year.

Sen. John Thune, (R) South Dakota

"It's a sequential process. The first step is over with and we are now onto the second step. There's a lot of work ahead, a lot of heavy lifting ahead, but we're quite hopeful actually."

The next step is submitting a proposal, which outlines the plan for construction.

Dr. Chan hopes the lab will inspire the younger generations and be an educational tool. DUSEL brings international attention in scientific research to South Dakota.

"On a broader level, if you step back and look at it from 30,000 feet, what does this mean to the world in which we live? This kind of research, cutting edge scientific research, in different fields, physics and geology, having it conducted here and the applications from that that could help change the way that we live for the better."

DUSEL is a project of international importance and as Senator Thune said, a new era in science and South Dakota.

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