Berkeley bullish on lab

By Wendy Pitlick, Black Hills Pioneer
Article Source

LEAD - Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority board came away from a meeting at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory feeling very confident in the level of support for developing a national laboratory at the former Homestake Gold Mine.

Earlier this month, Dec. 6-7,board members Pat Lebrun, Steve Zellmer, and board chairman Dave Bozied joined Authority staffers Dave Snyder and Dr. Jose Alonso, along with representatives from South Dakota's Congressional delegation, for working meetings to discuss the next phase of the process to develop a funding proposal for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory to be submitted to the National Science Foundation. Additionally, members of the Authority board were at Berkeley to learn how a working national lab operates, and to gauge the level of support for the project in Lead among the scientific community in Berkeley, the institution which is leading Homestake's national proposal for a DUSEL, and the site of Homestake Collaboration Principal Investigator Dr. Kevin Lesko's headquarters.

"I have a better vision of what we're trying to do," Lebrun said during a report about the visit last Friday during the regular Authority board meeting. "But the most important thing was meeting with the people. They couldn't have been nicer."

Lebrun, Zellmer and Bozied all echoed the same sentiments that they were very impressed with how well they were treated at Berkeley, giving the impression that the visit was a first-class tour among scientific friends. Further, they were able to physically see the priorities at the Berkeley Lab - priorities that come close to home.

"After coming back I am really comfortable that the DUSEL is going to happen," Zellmer said. "We're obviously hooked up with the right people and in the right kind of corporate culture. It's clearly a very high priority for everyone involved. This isn't a side show."

"I came away believing this is a team effort between South Dakota and Berkeley," Lebrun agreed.

While representatives from Sen. John Thune and Tim Johnson, and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's offices were all present as well, board members said their meetings were not political at all. Rather, the focus among the Congressional delegation was what they can do to help the process, which the board members said was also very refreshing.

While in Berkeley Lesko hosted the contingent as they toured the many laboratory and university facilities, including an education and outreach center similar to that which the Authority hopes to develop with the Sanford Science and Education Center on the Yates Complex. They also toured the National Center for Electron Microscopy and other special laboratory projects.

Others participating in the tour included Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Nuclear Science Division Director James Symons, Associate Lab Director Jim Siegrist, Senior Lab Scientist Joe Wang of the Earth Scineces Division, and Homestake DUSEL Project Manager Richard DiGennaro.

Agenda items for joint meetings between South Dakota officials and Berkeley representatives, to whom the NSF has awarded up to $5 million a year for three years to develop a detailed plan for developing a national lab in Homestake, included what the DUSEL construction project will include, when construction will begin and the importance of developing the Sanford lab before the DUSEL.

Lesko said members of the Homestake Collaboration hope to have Congressional approval for the DUSEL and have construction started by fiscal year 2011. But he reported that before that can be done officials must detail project costs, schedule, hazards, instrumentation requirements, and systems engineering. All of that, he said, must be done by this time next year in order to meet the Collaboration's proposed timeline.

"The Sanford Lab is the key to keeping DUSEL alive in the U.S.," Lesko said about the importance of the state run interim laboratory being developed at the 4,850-foot level. "It provides a domestic and continuous venue for U.S.-funded underground research."

While there is much work to be done, South Dakota representatives, Berkeley staff, and members of the Homestake Collaboration said they are up to the task. But there are many challenges ahead, most of which come from the likelihood of projects making it off of the NSF's list for Major Research and Equipment Facilities Construction (MREFC.)

Currently the DUSEL is competing with other big-ticket research projects, which include very high quality telescopes and other projects. Variables such as projections in operating costs, and other adjusted construction costs can also derail NSF funding for the DUSEL. Because of this and some other factors, only about 20 percent of projects classified as MREFC have progressed to actual construction in the last decade.

But that doesn't mean the future doesn't look bright for a DUSEL at Homestake. With widespread support from the international scientific community, and a general excitement among NSF officials about the project, lab officials are extremely optimistic that Lead could host a nearly $500-million, world-class laboratory in the near future.

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