Excavation of Colossal Caverns for Neutrino Experiment Completed

February 1, 2024 • by Staff Writer

The caverns in Lead, South Dakota, will house the gigantic particle detectors of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

Cranes and other large equipment working in a large cavern

Construction workers created two colossal caverns, each more than 500 feet long and about seven stories tall, for the gigantic particle detector modules of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab. A third cavern will house utilities for the operation of the detector. Photo: Matthew Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility


Map showing how neutrinos will pass 800 miles underground between sites in Illinois and South Dakota

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will generate the world’s most intense beam of high-energy accelerator neutrinos at Fermilab in Illinois, and send them 800 miles (1,300 km) straight through the earth to mile-deep detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. Neutrinos, which rarely interact with anything, can pass through the earth with no tunnel required. Illustration credit: Diana Brandonisio

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