Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL)—Planning and Design of a Laboratory Facility a Mile Underground
Craig Covil, CEng, Arup
Joshua Yacknowitz, Arup
DUSEL is a new underground laboratory that will be located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with design activities currently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It will house many leading edge physics, biology, geology, and engineering experiments, making it a truly interdisciplinary science facility and one of the foremost underground laboratories in the world. Design approaches to cavern excavation, laboratory services, life safety, and laboratory operations will push the boundaries of facility engineering.
Located at the site of an historic, decommissioned gold mine, the facility will consist of two major underground science campus levels, at 4,850 and 7,400 feet below the surface. Also, a variety of experiments will be located outside the footprint of the main facility at other levels within the old mine works. One of the large, U.S. Department of Energy-funded physics experiments will include the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, which is planned to comprise either a large water Cherenkov detector with a volume of approximately 100,000 metric tons of purified water in an enormous underground cavern at the 4850 level or a 20 kiloton liquid Argon vessel at the 800 level. The detectors will be the targets for a stream of neutrinos fired through the Earth's crust from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, some 800 miles away, and will be designed to detect various "flavors" of neutrinos passing through the liquid volume. The research done here will be a key component of ongoing Big Bang Theory research conducted around the world. Other experiments will explore dark matter, underground biological processes, rock mechanics, carbon sequestration, and many other types of exotic research that can only be performed at great depth. Science disciplines will span physics, environmental, biology, geology, and engineering.
To create a fully functional world class facility at these depths, significant work will need to be performed on legacy mine shafts and hoists, ventilation, and dewatering systems. Extremely large caverns will need to be excavated (the largest of which being a vertical cylinder roughly 50 meters in diameter by 60 meters high), along with widened access/egress routes to allow for permanent facility services and space allowance for movement of large science apparatus. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) utilities such as power, telecommunications, and chilled water will need to be brought down from the surface, or generated locally at depth. A specialized fire/life safety approach will need to be developed; the approach must consider both egress and defend-in-place approaches during emergency events. Aside from fire/smoke emergency planning, a strategy for dealing with the large volumes of cryogenic liquids needs to be developed for occupant and first responder safety.
Biographies:
Craig Covil is a principal with Arup and a civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience on major civil/infrastructure, tunnel, land reclamation, maritime, mining, and building projects, specifically in site preparation, civil engineering, foundations, underground structures, and performance analysis. Mr. Covil is a chartered engineer who has worked in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Monaco, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Australia.
Mr. Covil is experienced in design and construction and as a liaison with or for government, local authorities, contractors, industry, and other clients. Mr. Covil provides engineering advice and project management for a range of civil, tunnel, airport, mining, reclamation, and civil engineering projects.
Mr. Covil's science, industry, and energy projects include the Deep Underground Science Engineering Laboratory, the Tetley Brewery Visitor Centre, the Federal Reserve Bank Facility, and the Cornell University New Physics Laboratory and Cryogenic Plant Feasibility Study.
Josh Yacknowitz is part of Arup's Project Management practice, based in New York, and leads the Science and Industry Business for Arup in the Americas, focusing on science/research, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and data centers. Mr. Yacknowitz has been involved in laboratory/research, industrial, and commercial facilities design and multidisciplinary design project management. Mr. Yacknowitz is an experienced mechanical engineer with a varied background in HVAC, plumbing and industrial design, facility planning, laboratory design, and project management. Mr. Yacknowitz's experience includes interdisciplinary design management of large teams, HVAC and plumbing, laboratory HVAC design, and industrial facility design. Mr. Yacknowitz's notable science and industry projects include the Deep Underground Science Engineering Laboratory, Gillette MAPS Manufacturing Facility, the Cornell University Linear Accelerator, various confidential pharmaceutical company projects, and the Porex Technologies Industrial Steam Plant.