South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development

NSF team finishes visit

The Associated Press

LEAD -- A visit by representatives of the National Science Foundation to the Homestake mine went just fine, according to officials who are coordinating the state's effort to turn the abandoned underground mine into a national laboratory.

A site review panel from the National Science Foundation toured the mine over the weekend. The group includes scientists who know about the necessary infrastructure for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), said Josh Chamot, a spokesman for the NSF.

Dave Snyder, executive director of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, said Authority officials and principal investigator Kevin Lesko made a good presentation and they are confident that the site review went well.

The site review panel is visiting three other candidates for the DUSEL in Minnesota, Colorado and Washington state.

Following the site visits the final step in the process will be when key players from each site travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with the NSF. At those meetings, representatives from each site will have four hours to present their case once again to the site review panel.

Once all the reviews are completed, NSF officials have said they hope to make a decision about the DUSEL by this spring.

"Dr. Lesko reported to me that he is pleased with the thoroughness of the review," Gov. Mike Rounds said in a statement. "He said he was also impressed with the expertise of the NSF review team and their insightful discussions."

Lesko had said the NSF visits are strictly technical to get information about available infrastructure, plats, and the proposed sites themselves.

The Ross Hoist, a key component in entering the Homestake mine, was operated last week for the first time since the mine closed in 2000.