Alonso working to keep experimenters happy

BY WENDY PITLICK, Black Hills Pioneer
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As the S.D. Science and Technology Authority works around the clock to install pumps to dewater the former gold mine, Alonso said scientists who are planning experiments at the 4,850-foot level Sanford Laboratory are generally understanding about waiting before they can get their experiments started. Much of that is because many of these experiments are still in their preliminary planning stages and are not quite funded yet, but a lot of the reason is because the scientists have been made to feel welcome and they are comfortable with working with lab officials on the proposed timetable. Alonso said he is telling the scientists that the lab has limited access in 2008, and significantly better access in 2009.

"A large measure of how well your user community will support these kinds of issues and problems and work with you is if they feel that you're really caring for them," Alonso said. "So that's the one thing that I really fell we need to do everything possible to make the experimenters know that they're welcome and that we're working with them and that we'll do everything we can to be a good service organization for them. That's what we are, the laboratory is a service organization."

Early services provided for the scientists include everything from offering to store specially fabricated metals that are free of background radiation that comes from the earth's surface in the upper levels of the mine, storing Argon gas - a non-toxic vapor that is key to some neutrino experiments, and constructing key infrastructure for the largest experiment to go into the mine - LUX (Large Underground Xenon), which will use liquid xenon in large tanks to detect the presence of dark matter.

That's going to be a big project, Alonso said, as the Authority has committed to building platforms and tanks to accommodate the LUX experiment in the Davis cavity of the 4,850-foot level of the mine. In fact, Alonso said he is meeting with LUX scientists this January to determine the necessary scope of construction for the experiment, timetables, schedules, and other requirements.

The Authority will see a return for its construction efforts, as all of the infrastructure it builds for LUX will ultimately stay in the lab for the next researcher to use.

"It's difficult, when an experimenter comes in and says 'please help me.' What I can say is (we can help) if you can tell me a piece of equipment that is needed that will add to the value of the laboratory, not just to your experiment. It's got to stay here and it's got to remain as part of something other people can use. There is a lot of that."

"For storing the Argon gas there is a good possibility of using the explosive storage rooms at the 800 level or other places, which would be perfectly adequate for this," Alonso continued. "All we're doing is just storing it. There may also be other caves, caverns or rooms that might be suitable for other kinds of experiments and the only thing we have to worry about is just to make sure we have the right infrastructure in there and to be able to get power and ventilation. We have to look at the cost associated with that."

Of course, Alonso said, some research has already begun at the lab. Geology experiments that investigate the conditions of the mine at all levels have already begun in the shallow parts of the lab. Additionally, the U.S. Geological Survey has begun measuring the gravity at the mine, and at 20 other sites in the Lead area, including Terry Peak.

"When you're measuring gravity essentially what you're measuring is concentration of mass," Alonso said. "They're stating that in fact their instrument is sensitive enough that they are going to be able to observe differences (in gravity) as the water level goes down."

Other experiments that have already started include microbiology research, which examines unique life that forms deep within the surface of the earth, and geological seismometer readings.

"The more I learn about their plans, the better we can actually evolve as a laboratory," Alonso said. "A laboratory is a shell unless you have people in there working."

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