The construction and operation of a neutrino detector laboratory at Ash River has received congressional development funding and is expected to start construction later this year.
The project may play a role in better understanding Dark Matter in the Universe.
Project NOvA is part of the new neutrino physics research program with a “Far Detector” at Ash River in addition to a “Near Detector” at the main neutrino injector facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill.
Sally Arnold, a physical scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy at the Fermi Site Office, said the NOvA project is going ahead despite more than $400 million in congressional cuts to the DOE science budget request, including $52 million to Fermilab, leaving $29.5 million for its physics projects.
NOvA received $9.5 million to go ahead with project development with the intent to provide the total $280 million in the future.
“This supplemental funding was a shot in the arm to help us begin construction in Minnesota later in 2008,” said Arnold.
Another stepping stone was the DOE approval in June of the NOvA Environmental Assessment for both the Illinois and Minnesota sites. This was a requirement of the federal National Environmental Policy Act.
The University of Minnesota is the lead university under professor Marvin Marshak, Institute of Technology, and William Miller, Soudan Underground Mine Laboratory. The project combines the efforts of the Department of Energy, Fermilab and a collaboration of approximately 200 scientists and engineers from nearly 30 international laboratories.
Marshak credited U.S. Rep. James Oberstar for assisting in the supplemental appropriation that was passed at the end of June and signed by President Bush on July 1.
“The $9.5 million was but a fraction of the total NOvA costs, but the congressional authorization reassured project leaders that it would move forward and can realistically start construction in the spring,” said Marshak, adding that the total project price tag would be in the neighborhood of $280 million.
The Ash River site was selected as the furthest possible U.S. location that is in a direct line from the neutrino beam from Fermilab. It is located 25 miles southeast of International Falls and about one mile from the St. Louis County entrance to Voyageurs National Park. It is approximately 1,000 feet from the Ash River, and 2.8 miles from Lake Kabetogama.
Marshak said the U of M is negotiating options to about 50 acres of land with easements to build a road on neighboring properties. It also intends to purchase wetland credits to offset the approximately two acres of land to be developed on the property.
So far, the Ash River site has passed an archaeological survey in June, and expect vehicle traffic to be within acceptable load limits on the Ash River Trail. Marshak is working with Voyageurs National Park on issues such as truck washes to avoid the introduction of non-native plants to the area.
Marshak noted the facility design would minimize its visual impact to neighboring Voyageurs National Park. The Far Detector building would have a low profile, without windows facing the park and muted exterior colors.
“Visibility of the facility from the park would be about two miles,” he said. “It wouldn’t be invisible, but you would have to look pretty hard to see it.”
Marshak said the architectural and engineering firms would complete design work in time to get bids out to contractors around December. They want to bring in heavy equipment during winter on the hard surfaces and break ground in January. Construction is slated to begin in April and would run through 2013.
The 20,000-ton detector would monitor neutrino beams from an accelerator complex 504 miles away at Fermilab. The operation is expected to run through at least 2019. When completed, the detector is to be removed and Fermilab intends to seek a refit of the facility for other scientific use.
Scientists want the physics experiment to provide a better understanding of neutrinos, the uncharged, non-ionizing elementary particles that are relatively unknown because they rarely interact with ordinary matter.
The experiment may offer more information about neutrino mass and the oscillation of neutrinos from one type to another. Scientists hope to discover more about the neutrinos role in Dark Matter and the relationship between matter and antimatter.
Marshak said that science questions are intellectually pressing, and that the experiments in the long would have practical applications.
“How the universe came to be,” he added.
An explanation of the NOvA science for non-scientists can be found online at www-nova.fnal.gov/fermilab_nova.pdf.
