Dr. Bill Roggenthen, co-principal investigator for the proposal to build a deep underground science and engineering laboratory at the former Homestake gold mine, said last week’s review in Berkeley focused primarily on what the lab facility will look like. It was the first time the National Science Foundation reviewed plans for how the DUSEL would be constructed and what it could consist of. Though the preliminary design will not be 100 percent completed until the proposal is submitted at the end of the year, Roggenthen said the DUSEL team is far enough along in the process to be able to discuss it with the NSF and gain feedback.

“I think it went very well and we are moving forward,” Roggenthen said. “We are now working with a pretty good idea of what the layout will be.”

He said one of the most important results of last week’s meeting came when members of the seven-member review board said the DUSEL team is on track for submitting its proposal to the NSF at the end of this year.

“That was good because that was something we wanted to make sure that they were in on and agree to,” he said. “We seem to be on schedule to provide the information that is needed, so that was a good affirmation.”

The preliminary design includes at least two laboratory modules — long, thin lab spaces that could be at least 300 feet long — at the 4,850-foot level, and one smaller lab module at the 7,400 level. Additionally, Roggenthen said plans call for at least one large cavity of about 180 feet high by 280 feet long to be constructed at the 4,850 level. It’s possible, he said, that there could even be two of those large cavities, both of which will host a Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment that will have Fermilab scientists shooting beams of neutrinos from Chicago to the 4,850-foot level of Homestake, so they can further study the characteristics of the sub-atomic particles. But whether the DUSEL proposal includes one or two large cavities depends on what the scientists will need for that experiment.

Roggenthen reported that the next NSF review will be held April 13-15 at the S.D. School of Mines and Technology campus in Rapid City. During that time about 25 representatives of the National Science Foundation will review the preliminary plans for the facility, as well as the science experiments DUSEL will host.

“This is probably going to be a very meaningful review because the next really big step will occur at the end of this year when we submit the preliminary design report,” Roggenthen said.

After the DUSEL team submits the preliminary design report at the end of the year, the NSF will scrutinize it as a potential project. After that, the preliminary design will advance to the National Science Board in the Spring of 2011. If that entity gives its final approval the DUSEL team will move forward with a final design phase, with construction to start in fiscal year 2013.

Following last week’s review, which was conducted by physicists as well as underground construction and project management experts, Roggenthen said the DUSEL team’s top priority is working to get early science into the mine and finalizing preliminary design plans. Currently crews are working to excavate drifts and a large space next to the Davis Cavern that will serve the Large Underground Xenon dark matter detector, and the Majorana neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. Both experiments are part of the Sanford Lab early science implementation plan, which is part of the state’s strategy to secure approval for DUSEL.

“I saw a picture where they actually have broken into the Davis Cavity with the drift they are working on,” Roggenthen said.

Lab officials expect to install the early science experiments by late summer of 2010.

Overall, Roggenthen said the review made him feel pretty confident about the DUSEL preliminary design report.

“Everything we have been doing underground has been turning out pretty well,” he said. “In terms of constructability this is very challenging to make things this big, at this depth. This is so far outside the envelope, it’s really quite astounding. It’s looking like we can do it.”