Workers break ground on neutrino detector

The construction of a $1.8-billion international neutrino experiment in South Dakota has begun.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, located in a former goldmine in the city of Lead, took place on 21 July. The facility is expected to house five massive chambers almost 1.5 kilometers underground. There will also be a particle accelerator located 1,300 kilometers away at the Fermi National Accelerator Facility in Illinois.

Scientists using the facility hope to test theories about elusive subatomic particles by looking for interactions between neutrinos and antineutrinos in tanks holding about 17,000 metric tons of liquid argon cooled to -184 °C.