Planning for the removal of 875,000 tons of rock to create caverns a mile underground for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a big job. Much work and coordination has to happen before the excavation can start.
Having personnel in offices close to the future construction site at Sanford Lab has its advantages. On November 30, Kiewit-Alberici Joint Venture (KAJV) signed a lease to rent office space in Lead’s historic Gold Rush Plaza. The building also is home to the offices recently rented by Fermi Research Alliance, which manages Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, and the LBNF project on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
KAJV is part of a team, along with design firm Arup, that works with Fermilab’s LBNF project team to prepare for the excavation and construction of DUNE, the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The three companies have worked with the LBNF team on the final design, excavation plans and bid packages for LBNF/DUNE for about 12 months.
LBNF will provide the cavern space and infrastructure for the four-story-high, 70,000-ton DUNE detector, which will catch neutrinos — subatomic particles that rarely interact with matter — sent through the Earth’s mantle from Fermilab. The experiment aims to solve some of the mysteries surrounding neutrinos and the role these particles play in the universe.