Dear all,

Please see below details of the Boulby Feasibility Study Community Days. For more information please contact t.sumner@imperial.ac.uk.

Feasibility Study for Developing the Boulby Underground Laboratory into a Facility for Future Major International Projects
H Araújo, J Dobson, C Ghag, S Greenwood, V Kudryavtsev, P Majewski, S Paling, V Pec, R Saakyan, P. Scovell, N Smith, T J Sumner

Call for community input
We are carrying out a feasibility study for STFC into the use of the Boulby Underground Laboratory as a host facility for future major international rare event search experiments. As part of that study we would like to elicit input from the wider community on interest in use of Boulby and consequent infrastructure needs. We plan to do this using two (DMUK) community meetings; the first is to introduce the results of the study so far and hear any preliminary expressions of interest, and the second is to have more detailed focussed discussions with interested parties. Any new use cases put forward will be listed in the final report to STFC, planned for mid-2021.

The meetings will be held using zoom – details to follow.

The first meeting is planned for Friday 26th February from 14:00 – 17:00
The second meeting is planned for Friday 12th March from 14:00 – 17:00

Information
Both underground and surface facilities are being considered. For the underground sector new excavations are included to give ~2,500m2 additional floor area. Two possible sites are included: one at the existing laboratory depth of 1100m and the other somewhat deeper at 1400m. We envisage a large central cavern of height ~25m with a floor area of ~450m2 surrounded by a network of caverns providing space for support activities (workshops, cleanrooms, staging areas, storage, mess rooms, etc). For the surface sector a new building is foreseen to cater for both a larger facility staffing level, increased user numbers as well as laboratory/storage areas for preparation activities.

An agenda for the first meeting will be circulated closer to the meeting. If you would like to be added to the agenda please send an email to t.sumner@imperial.ac.uk

If you are planning to attend could you also send an email to t.sumner@imperial.ac.uk.