Decision on lab location delayed

By Journal staff
The National Science Foundation likely will wait until May or June, rather than April, to announce its decision on a preferred site for an underground science laboratory, science foundation officials said Monday.

Homestake Mine in Lead is one of the leading contenders for that national lab. Officials at the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority in Lead were expecting an NSF decision in April to identify a single preferred site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. Staff members for Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., were briefed by science foundation representatives Monday.

Monday’s briefing followed a recent teleconference between staff of the congressional delegation and the state science authority, which is the agency responsible for South Dakota’s application to host the lab. During the teleconference, the delegation officials and state authority coordinated their joint efforts to maximize South Dakota’s chances of hosting the lab and emphasized the need to show continued respect for the scientific integrity of the selection process, according to a news release.

Jan. 9 was the deadline for teams to submit applications to be the science foundation’s single preferred site. Four teams are known to have submitted applications in the open competition. Of these proposals, only those from South Dakota and Colorado survived previous stages of the site selection process. Both received federal funding and feedback from the science foundation to refine their proposals for this current and final stage of site selection. The winner of the site selection competition is expected to receive federal funding of up to $5 million for three consecutive years, for a total of $15 million, to develop a more detailed design for an underground lab.