Posted on 05/08/2026 8:27:01 PM PDT by Red Badger
The beams are an in-kind contribution from CERN. Matthew Kapust / SURF The US has begun lowering 10 million pounds of steel nearly a mile underground to build the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), widely regarded as one of the world’s most ambitious particle physics experiments.
The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the premier US national lab for high-energy particle physics announced the start of the underground detector assembly for the massive neutrino project in South Dakota on May 7. It is carried out along with the Sanford Underground Research Facility and CERN.
Transported deep underground, the steel beams will be used for the construction of massive detector modules that will help Fermilab engineers to study neutrinos, some of the most common and least understood particles in the universe.
Norbert Holtkamp, Fermilab director, highlighted the importance of the advance. “Today represents the start of a pivotal phase for DUNE, the development of the far detector structures in South Dakota,” he elaborated.
A new construction phase DUNE brings together scientists and engineers from over 35 countries around the globe. Once fully operational, it will send the world’s most intense neutrino beam roughly 800 miles from Fermilab in Illinois to detectors buried deep beneath the ground at SURF in South Dakota.
For the project, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) provided personnel, expertise, and 10 million lbs of steel for the underground detectors. It is the organization’s first infrastructure investment outside Europe.
The event marked the start of 10 million pounds of steel beams being lowered underground to form the DUNE detectors. Credit: Landin Burke / Fermilab
The steel beams will be used to build the cryostats. These are massive insulated containers made to hold liquid argon cooled to -300 degrees Fahrenheit. These detectors will capture neutrino interactions with unprecedented precision.
Each of the first two detector modules will be massive. In practice, this translates to roughly 216 feet long, 62 feet wide, and 60 feet high, which is equal to the size of a five-story building. Once completed, each cryostat will contain approximately 17,000 tons of liquid argon, nearly a mile underground.
Going underground
Mark Thomson, CERN director general, revealed that CERN is supplying prototype detectors and giant cryostats for DUNE, while in parallel, US labs are providing superconducting magnets for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider. “This important milestone for DUNE is a testament to the strong scientific partnership between CERN and the US,” Thomson concluded in a press release.
The DUNE experiment is the largest scientific project currently backed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. It is, additionally, one of the most important neutrino experiments ever attempted.
DUNE will send the world’s most intense neutrino beam 800 miles from Fermilab in Illinois to detectors deep underground at SURF in South Dakota. Credit: Fermilab
Neutrinos are highly difficult to study because they rarely interact with matter. Billions pass through the human body every second unnoticed. According to Fermilab, the project could help answer some of the biggest physics mysteries, including why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe and how the universe evolved after the Big Bang.
The team also believes that the research could influence fields, including national security, communications, and medical imaging. The project brings together more than 1,500 scientists from institutions worldwide. With underground installation now underway, Fermilab’s next major target is delivering the first neutrino beam to DUNE by 2031.
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IBTGWPAP
in before the giant worm pics are posted
:D
Doesn’t this seem like an outrageously and ridiculously expensive project?
I don’t like those neutrinos hitting me!
Yes I’m sure it’s very useful. Hey you know what would be great? Get rid of the illegals
Most physics experiments are...............
They go right thru you...............
“ Doesn’t this seem like an outrageously and ridiculously expensive project?.”
Yes, it does.
L
Mexico is paying for it
Similar in expense to Elon’s Boring Projects.
No
There have always been down-to-earth benefits of scientific endeavors. The space program gave us GPS, heart monitors, etc.
I believe this huuuuuge, DEEP neutrino endeavor may also finally result in locating Jimmy Hoffa.
Just like Olestra?
Fermi Lab has been talking about this for so many years that I thought it must be in operation by now...
As to all the fluffy language used to publicize this experiment, why don’t they just say it will be for flavor studies/research?
This sounds like that $6 billion particle accelerator we started building on Texas, and abandoned part way through. Europe made one instead.
I remember that. North Florida was in the running for it as well, and I was hoping to get a job there...........😎
I’m just guessing, but I bet this is to study the viability of real-time communications with submarines and spacecraft..............
...Like Taco Bell.
CC
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