Sean Paling STFC Boulby Underground Science Facility Dark
Sean Paling STFC Boulby Underground Science Facility Dark Matter Search & ULB counting Multi-disciplinary studies: climate, the environment, life on earth & beyond Deep Science at Boulby Underground Laboratory: Current studies & details of new underground facilities to support UK & international underground science. New Underground lab @ Boulby
Boulby Underground Laboratory The UK’s deep underground science facility operating in a working potash and salt mine. 1. 1 km depth (2805 mwe). With low background surrounding rock-salt Operated by the UK’s Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in partnership with the mine operators ICLUK Factor ~1 million reduction in cosmic ray muon flux vs. surface Boulby Palmer lab. >800 m 2 floor space. Operating since 2001 sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk
Boulby Geology & Mining Excavations are in Salt (Na. Cl) & Potash (KCl) Permian evaporite layers left over from the Zechstein Sea. Over 40 kms of tunnel mined each year (now >1, 000 kms in total), the long-lived roadways being cut in the lower Na. Cl layer. U: 67 ± 6 ppb Th: 125 ± 10 ppb Low γ & n backgrounds Low Rn (<3 Bqm-3) Typical Boulby Salt Roadway Boulby Mine Potash Mine Shafts Rock-Salt Polyhalite Boulby Geology sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk Palmer Lab
Underground Science @ Boulby Mine • DRIFT: Directional Dark Matter Search • BUGS: Ultra-low background material screening • Deep Carbon: Muon Tomography for CCS (etc) • ERSa. B: Environmental gamma spectroscopy • BISAL: Geomicrobiology / Astrobiology studies • MINAR: Space Exploration Tech. Development DRIFT-II DRIFT • SELLR: Life in Low background radiation • Misc. Geology / Geoscience • Misc. Low-background support projects • Etc. . . (More to come). A growing multi-disciplinary science programme: from astro & particle physics to studies of geology, climate, the environment, life on Earth & beyond. BUGS Lab
Boulby Facility Details… Facility funded and operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in partnership with CPL/ICL-UK. Supports work of 9 collaborative projects (astrophysics to climate, geology, environment, life etc), 20 institutions, > 70 scientists and students. Environment monitoring Management • Operations, H&S & science programme managed by 4(+3) onsite staff and supported by Rutherford Appleton Lab (PPD). • CPL / ICL provide wide-ranging operational & higher level support. ‘A hole in the ground does not make a facility’ H&S, medical support User and science support Materials transport Project tracking, H&S
Mining at Boulby… CPL/ICL support us: Keep the mine operating and safe Emergency H&S Materials transportation Misc. Facility maintenance High level political support
World Deep Underground Science Labs Overview of status & future plans of (some of) the world’s underground facilities… Europe - Gran Sasso - Modane - Canfranc - Boulby Asia - Kamioka - Jinping - Yangyang - Ino North America - SNOLAB - SURF - Soudan - WIPP Southern Hemisphere - Andes - Stawell Lots going on. Many and varied science projects and laboratories progressing and emerging.
How does Boulby compare? o 4 (+3) onsite staff supporting 70 users from 20 UK & international universities and research institutes o Low ambient gamma & radon levels (Rn <3 Bq/m 3) o Good location. Ease of access. Close to services. o Operations well-supported by mine owners ICL o Interesting, diverse & impactful science programme sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk Muons vs. depth Low ambient gamma backgrounds
Boulby Dark Matter Studies Boulby has hosted Dark Matter search studies for two decades. Including the NAIAD, DRIFT & ZEPLIN experiment programmes. Boulby now hosts DRIFT Directional DM programme, doing R&D for DM-Ice & providing ULB material screening for other studies, inc LUX-ZEPLIN Alpha DM-Ice ZEPLIN-III @ Boulby ZEPLIN: The world’s first 2 -phase Xenon dark matter detector (Finished 2011) DRIFT-IId Current limits & future projections sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk
DRIFT-II (etc) @ Boulby. . . A DIRECTIONAL Dark Matter Detector. STATUS: Programme operating at Boulby since 2001. Currently limit-setting and conducting system performance & scale-up R&D. Plans for further R&D & expansion / collaboration (CYGNUS). Rotation of visible matter WITHIN the Dark Matter halo Dual (1 m 3 total) Negative Ion DRIFT TPC Directional detection Tvis~240 Myrs Alpha track Simulated data Vsun~230 kms-1 Dark matter Halo WIMPNew Lab December 2016 Wind Talks / posters here (Tuesday) by: Andrew Scarff, Fred Mouton and Warren Lynch. WIMP flux Directional DM detection – providing the most powerful direct detection signature DRIFT-IId @ Boulby Occidental College, New Mexico, Colorado State, Hawaii, Wellesley, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Boulby
ULB Material Screening Growing suite (‘BUGS’) of Ultra-Low-Background (ULB) germanium detector systems to support Dark Matter & misc ‘rare-event’ studies… Activity testing steel samples Ortec Background Spectra Ortec 2 kg Coax (90% eff). 2 Canberra BEGe detectors Canberra SAGe Well-type Boulby Underground Germanium Suite (BUGS) Sensitivity down to <100 ppt U/Th per sample, & improving ULB counting studies supporting UK DM (LZ) and neutrino study communities. Now EXPANDING ULB counting capabilities to meet international demand. In collaboration with UCL, Oxford, DMUK, Sheffield LZ LUX-ZEPLIN Talk here (Tuesday) by: Chamkaur Ghag LUX-ZEPLIN Canberra
BUGS move to new lab complete… Detectors successfully installed and operating. LZ sample testing well underway… Three additional world-class detectors now being installed (x 10 sensitivity). Now better to support current & future ULB experiments (inc. Gd Super-K). Also nearer PPT sensitivity for G 3 Dark Matter & Neutrino experiments. LZ PMTs S. M. Paling - Boulby@stfc. ac. uk SURF Lab and LZ project management team visit to Boulby Ge Suite – Aug 2015
Boulby Multi-Disciplinary Studies DEEP-Carbon: Muon Tomography for deep geological mapping applications including CCS Boulby, Durham, Sheffield, Bath, Premier Oil, CPL. ERSa. B: Gamma spectroscopy & low background counting environmental radioactivity studies From astrophysics to climate, Boulby, Scottish Universities Env. Research Ctr (SUERC) geology, the environment, life on Earth & beyond. . . Life in Boulby Salt… MINAR: Space Technology Development Boulby, Edinburgh, NASA, DLR, CPL etc. Plus Misc. Geology & Geoscience (& more to come)… sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk BISAL: Astrobiology / Geo-microbiology. Studies of life in salt, life on Earth & beyond
Low-BG Gamma Spectroscopy Gamma spectroscopy and low-background counting for Environment studies & Beyond The ultra-low background environment and Ge detectors at Boulby allow existing industrial, environmental and climate-related gamma spectroscopy studies to be extended and improved. 238 U 232 Th Sample test output Boulby Ultra-low background Germanium Suite (BUGS) Environmental applications: • Radioactive tracers for atmospheric & ecosystem processes • Radio-dating: C-14, Pb-210, Si-32 • Dosimetry in the environment • Marine radioactivity • Landscape evolution • Sedimentology… Pb-210 Sedement dating sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk Pb-210 Radio-dating of the 50250 year timescale is important for understanding RECENT affects of climate change.
Muon Tomography / Geo-survey Development of a Muon Tomography techniques for deep 3 D geological surveying - inc Carbon Capture @ Storage (CCS) Cosmic ray muons CCS site Muon detector array Boulby site and skills uniquely well-suited for development and testing: appropriate depth and geology, ease of access, infrastructure & expertise sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk STFC-Boulby, Durham, Sheffield, Bath, NASA Potential for cheap, reliable, practical, real-time long-term monitoring of deep structures. Potential applications: - Deep geological repository monitoring. - Monitoring in Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) Muon-tides detector development Bore hole detector installation CCS site simulation Deep-Carbon Project: £ 1. 4 M funding from UK Dept of Energy & Climate change (DECC) & Premier Oil: Bore-hole detector development & testing @ Boulby Muon-Tides technology demonstrator Simulations of technique performance in CCS
Astrobiology & Mars Analogue Edinburgh, Boulby, NASA, DLR, CPL (etc) A base for studies of life in Boulby rock – studies of limits of Sampling life in Boulby Subsurface Astrobiology Laboratory Brine life on earth and on other planets Led by Edinburgh, ALSO: An important ‘Mars Analogue site’ UKCA – with geology & conditions to allow explorations & astrobiology technique & instrumentation development Mining & extraplanetary exploration instrumentation development MINAR 2 sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk Life in Boulby salt
A NEW LABORATORY now being built at Boulby New Laboratory To replace current facility and host planned & new construction plan projects for the next decade and more… Mars Analogue Area & outside testing area Project completion date: Early 2017 Materials Entrance 2 Main hall: Internal Lab height/width of 4 m/7 m Materials Entrance 1 Palmer lab Offices & People Entrance Large Expt. Cave Area: Internal lab height/width of 6. 5 m/7 m 50 m sean. paling@stfc. ac. uk BUGS ULB Counting facility Material Store Fully-equipped 4000 m 3 lab. Class 10 K & 1 K clean room throughout. 5 -10 T lifting capacity.
‘BUGS’ ULB Germanium Facility Boulby New Lab Construction October 2016 Main Experimental Hall (7 x 4 x 60 m) Large Experimental Cavern (LEC) (7 x 7 x 35 m) AC, HEPA filtration, internet / comms, 5 & 10 T lifting capacity. > 4000 m 3 of well supported class 1, 000 and class 10, 000 clean room experimental space Completion Jan/Feb 2016 Now moving experiments from old lab to new.
March 2017: Completing the lab and getting on with the science…
Old lab to be collapsed to create ‘outside experimentation area’ Final part of construction… Large Experimental Cavern (LEC) Open salt roadway experimental area supported and equipped for ‘out-of-lab’ projects Boulby New Lab: Outside Experimentation Area
Future Science? …. Continue current studies, plus: • BUGS: Expanded ULB material screening and environmental gamma-ray spectroscopy. • Expanded Astrobiology, Space Exploration and MINAR studies • ERODES/CARES: Salt cavity engineering test facility for studies. DRIFTof compressed gas energy storage? NERC proposal underway. • CYGNUS: R&D test-bed and first large scale detector? • Watchman: 1 k. T Gd-doped water neutrino detector for nuclear non-proliferation purposes (etc)? Feasibility studies underway • HALO-1 k. T Supernovae neutrino detector updgrade. • Super. NEMO demonstrator modules? • Misc: Hartlepool ‘near detector’ test requests …. (Watch this space! – more to come). II
Boulby Underground Laboratory Review of expressions of interest Coming Soon (late 2017) Thank You…. . Come and visit / work-with us… Email: Boulby@stfc. ac. uk Web: www. stfc. ac. uk/boulby Sean Paling STFC Boulby Underground Science Facility Facebook: Boulby Underground Laboratory
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