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Science

800,000 Tons of Rock Excavated for Massive Underground Neutrino Detector (energy.gov) 14

800,000 tons of rock have been excavated from a South Dakota research facility — part of a multi-year process "to help answer some of physics' biggest questions," writes America's Energy Department.

"The caverns they excavated will hold a massive particle detector and accompanying equipment." Along with partners from more than 35 countries, the Department of Energy's Office of Science is supporting the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF-DUNE)... To study how neutrinos change type as they travel, LBNF-DUNE will be sending a stream of neutrinos from DOE's Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois [nearly 600 miles away] to South Dakota. At the beginning and end of the particles' journey, detectors will measure the types of neutrinos and antineutrinos. By comparing the rates of how both particles change type, scientists may find a difference that accounts for that ancient misalignment.
There's also hope they'll detect neutrinos from supernovae explosions — and maybe even decaying protons LBNF-DUNE will use massive, seven-story tall detectors. Each detector will have 17,000 tons of liquid argon. That vast quantity of liquid maximizes the likelihood that scientists will detect as many neutrinos as possible. The far detector — the one in South Dakota — will be located about a mile underground. That distance places it in the right location compared to Fermilab and blocks the detector from other cosmic particles.
"Just carrying out the excavation took three years," the announcement notes. ("The team had to dissemble the equipment, move it deep underground, and then reassemble it.) The 800,000 tons of rock were moved to the surface and then stored in a former mine.

"Now that the excavation is complete, the LBNF-DUNE team is moving on to the next steps. Currently, they are installing the far detector in the Sanford Underground Research Facility. They anticipate finishing construction and starting to operate the detector in 2028. The team will then move on to installing the near detector at Fermilab.

"The launch of LBNF/DUNE will be the beginning of a new era in understanding neutrinos and knowing more about our universe as a whole."

800,000 Tons of Rock Excavated for Massive Underground Neutrino Detector

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  • by Anonymous Coward

    How much is 800,000 tons? I know they wouldn't have listed the amount in the title unless it was very little or a lot, but which?

  • I glanced over TFA and I couldn't confirm this but; any reasons they didn't use dynamite?

    Tunnels through rock usually use that method. It's been used for railway tunnels etc. for ages.

    Even in a city where I lived, they used dynamite to clear the rock under a street to install new water and sewer bigger pipes deeper than the old ones although in another city with the same use case, I have been told dynamiting was forbidden by that city in their case so it took them ages compared to the other city.

    Anyway, may

    • I glanced over TFA and I couldn't confirm this but; any reasons they didn't use dynamite?

      Tunnels through rock usually use that method. It's been used for railway tunnels etc. for ages.

      Even in a city where I lived, they used dynamite to clear the rock under a street to install new water and sewer bigger pipes deeper than the old ones although in another city with the same use case, I have been told dynamiting was forbidden by that city in their case so it took them ages compared to the other city.

      Anyway, maybe it would have taken less time than 3 years using dynamite if indeed they didn't use any and I assume they are far from any city.

      Or, maybe they did use dynamite but don't mention to sound somehow more politically correct. My inquiring mind is curious...

      There is a link in TFA to an article about the construction https://news.fnal.gov/2021/05/... [fnal.gov] It doesn't mention dynamite as such but "blasting".

    • For doing tunnels that are long and uniform, blasting comes out as more expensive and takes longer to do.
      Blasting can be done for a small area and with little setup.
      https://bestsupportunderground... [bestsuppor...ground.com]

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