This proposal is for support to perform a conceptual design study that would submit the Homestake mine in Lead, SD as a candidate site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) in response to solicitation # NSF-05-506. The Homestake mine is a huge underground structure, so this plan will provide a safe, advanced, dedicated, versatile DUSEL down to a depth of 8000 feet below the surface, reached by existing shafts and drifts.
The Homestake DUSEL will address the underground needs of all of the major scientific fields included in the NSF solicitation process: particle and nuclear physics, geology, hydrology, geo-engineering, biology, and biochemistry. Homestake is the deepest mine in North America with rooms at 8000 feet, well suited for the experiments specified for a DUSEL, and the rock is well characterized. It is a two-level facility, with one set of utilities at 4850 feet and another at 8000 feet.
The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA) has been created to oversee the development of Homestake DUSEL. Although the pumps that kept the mine dry have been turned off, the water is still well below the 4850 foot level, and the plan is to begin pumping most of the water as soon as possible so as to develop a laboratory at the 4850 foot level in the very near future. A plan will then be developed to dewater the mine down to the 8000 foot level. The present mine owner, Barrick Gold Corp., has agreed to transfer ownership of the mine to the SDSTA, and plans for that are moving ahead.
Actions by the State of South Dakota will permit early implementation of a first set of experiments at 4850 (foot depth) level as early as 2006. Development of the mine at the 4850 foot level will be supported by existing funds in advance of funding from the National Science Foundation.
An education and outreach plan, involving local institutions, schools, colleges, and universities, and with broad involvement of minorities, will also take effect as soon as possible. Because Homestake DUSEL will be a single campus site, interdisciplinary projects should be possible on a scale that would be difficult to achieve in many other places.
