Homestake Mine Strikes It Rich Again; Lab-led Proposal Wins NSF Nod

Homestake mine in South Dakota

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has chosen Homestake, a former gold mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota, as the site for a national multipurpose deep underground science and engineering laboratory, following a lengthy competition. The multi-institutional Homestake collaboration was spearheaded by Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley under the leadership of Kevin Lesko from the Nuclear Science Division. Director Steve Chu sent a letter of congratulations to South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds for the collaborative effort that resulted in this decision. In his note, Chu cited the historic ties between the Lab and South Dakota, which was the birthplace of Berkeley Lab founder Ernest Lawrence, and looked forward to future collaborations in a wide range of scientific efforts, including particle and nuclear physics, geosciences and microbiology. The new facility will be named the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL) in recogintion of a $70 million gift from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford. Full story.