NSF - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected two site-specific proposals submitted in response to Solicitation NSF-05-506, entitled "Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory Site and Conceptual Design." The two selected sites are the Homestake Mine in South Dakota and the Henderson Mine in Colorado. Each team will receive $500,000 to produce a conceptual design for a possible DUSEL at those locations. The awards result from the second stage of a planned three-stage community planning process that is providing input for NSF's future decision on whether to move toward construction of a DUSEL.
The concept of a DUSEL grew out of the need for scientists in multiple disciplines to have access to a deep underground laboratory in order to answer some of the most compelling questions in their respective fields. Physicists require a deep underground location in order to be shielded from the bombardment from cosmic rays from space. The cosmic rays interfere with the very high sensitivity detectors required to address such questions as: What is Dark Matter? Do protons decay, which would provide evidence that all the fundamental forces are united at some very high energy? What are the fundamental properties of the ethereal neutrinos that we have just discovered have mass? Geoscientists, too, require access to deep underground environments in order to solve numerous questions regarding the deformation of rock, changes in fluid flow and chemistry and other properties that vary significantly with depth. Engineers require access to underground environments to develop the technology to efficiently and safely produce deep tunnels and caverns, to store fuels and wastes, and to possibly sequester CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Biologists want to explore the deep subsurface for new exotic forms of life that could inhabit such hostile environments. The confluence of scientific and engineering questions requiring a DUSEL have brought together the Biology, Engineering, Geosciences, and Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorates of NSF to look into the merit of undertaking what would be a major construction project and suite of diverse research activities.
From a very strong field, the Homestake Mine and the Henderson Mine stood out as by far the most promising prospects for further consideration. The conceptual designs the teams associated with these sites will develop will lead to more detailed plans associated with a down-select to a single site in the third stage of the community-based planning process. Both the conceptual designs and the more detailed plans will aid the NSF in determining whether to support construction of a DUSEL and in comparing its merit with the many other large projects being proposed by all the communities served by NSF.
