VT-NRL facility @ Kimballton
Icicle Creek
Soudan
Sudbury
Homestake
Henderson
Kimballton
San Jacinto
WIPP
The Kimballton site is located less than
30 minutes from Virginia Tech
• largest research university in Virginia
• 28,000 students
• technical infrastructure and academic
environment in the immediate vicinity of
laboratory is unique
• Blacksburg named one of “Ten Dream
Towns-The Perfect Places to Live Big,
Play Hard and Work (if you Must)”
Sedimentary Host Rock
Mine Portal
Current mine layout
•
•
•
•
•
~ 1 mile
Current maximum
depth of mine – 2300’
(~1900 mwe assuming
limestone)
over 50 miles of stopes
700 kton of high-grade
limestone removed per
year (~7 GS Hall
C’s/yr)
Deeper sites available
as time goes on
Preliminary facility at
1700’ (~1450 mwe)
Drive-in Access:
Width 42’ (12.8 meters)
Height 26’ – 105’ (8 – 32 meters)
Length up to one mile
Facility Location
Detail Location of VT-NRL facility
The radioactivity of the Kimballton
limestone was measured by the Max
Plank Institut für Kernphysik in
Heidelberg Germany. The results of this
measurement on two samples of rock
are:
40K  18±1, 13 ±1 Bq/kg
226Ra  1.2±0.1, 1.9±0.2 Bq/kg
226Th  0.6±0.1, 0.9±0.2 Bq/kg
The radon concentration is measured
periodically by the Mine Safety and
Health Administration (MSHA), and their
only positive result was:
222Rn  14.8 Bq/m3
PLAN:
• water, septic, 50kW electric
• internet
• 20'x40' assembly hall
• 12'x40' office trailer
• 8'x24' NRL lab
• unallocated (~ 40'x40')
• 30 minutes from VT to the mine
• 15 minutes from the surface
Base facility:
•1700 ft deep
• accessed by truck (or bus)
• concrete pad of 42'x113’
Concrete poured July 19,
2005; ready Sept 2005
Initial Science Programs
Material Screening
Prefabricated laboratories can be driven in.
HPGe detctors, like
these at Gran Sasso
Nuclear Test Detection: Short-Lived Isotope Detection
Sample
Introduction
Chromatographic
Separation
He
He
Vent
Sample
x
Fraction Collection/
Detection
Cryoinjector
x
TCD
Vent
x
He
x
x
Vacuum
Trap
x
Counter
Trap
Hg pump
He
Sample is emptied onto
sorbent-packed cryoinjector, utilizing a cold trap
to remove water vapor and
lower volatility components.
Flush with Helium to purge
non-trapped permanent
gasses
Commercially available
GC and PLOT column
from Agilent
Can utilize a guard for
sample cleanup,
backflush with He after
separation
Cryo-cooled sorbent bed
traps to collect fractions from
the GC as they exit the TCD
detector of the GC. Evacuate
traps following collection, use
Hg pump to move sample
from trap to counter.
Shielding with screened materials
Methodology
Detectors like
those used for
Gallex
Also: seismic signature (surface and deep) studies using daily blasting as source.
Solar Neutrinos: LENS
LENS proto-type: to
measure solar pp
neutrino flux to 3%;
compare solar neutrino
luminosity to photon
luminosity; evolution of
sun and basic neutrino
properties
Threshold: 10 pe ~ 10 keV
pp
7Be
CNO
pep
or
Double Beta Decay: Mo-100
Looking for double-beta decay to excited state:
gives triple coincidence; checks exclusion principle
1
0
100
Tc
100
Mo
ββ
3034.6
01
1130.3
21
539.5
0
(keV)
590.8
539.5
3
100
Ru
Figure 1. Level scheme of
double-beta decay.
100Mo
Figure 2. Double-beta decay apparatus
consisting of two HPGc detectors with Mo-disk,
NaI annulus and plastic scintillators (active
cosmic-ray veto) and Pb shielding.
Existing experiment to move
from DUKE to Kimballton
Rock Mechanics: Amadeus
Tomography of rock faces to predict fracturing prior to blasting.
http://amadeus.cee.vt.edu/AMADEUS.htm
Micro-Biology
SPECIFIC AIMS
a. To develop biogeochemical models for the development of the sedimentary rocks
of Kimballton and other places on earth with similar geological characteristics (from
b and c)
b. To reconstruct metabolic models for the microorganisms that inhabited the
ancient sediments of Kimballton prior to their burial.
c. To understand the evolutionary processes of the Kimballton microbes: to
understand how the changes on earth surface influenced the course of evolution of
the burried ancient microorganisms
d. To isolate microorganisms and genes of practical use (energy production via
conversion of unminable hydrocarbons into natural gas, carbon dioxide
sequestration, bioremediation, and production of bulk and fine chemicals, including
pharmaceuticals).
Micro-Biology
THE HYPOTHESES:
I. The sedimentary rocks of Kimballton underwent burial 100-200 million
years ago.
II. The ancient microbial cells trapped within the low porosity dry rocks are
no longer alive. However, some of their cell constituents (molecular fossils)
such as DNA and lipids are well preserved.
III. The microbial cells trapped within the porous rocks grew and evolved
after burial. A. The rocks receiving recharge (fresh supplies of nutrients)
evolved with the changes that occurred on the earth surface. B. The rocks
without recharge grew very slowly with a very limited supply of nutrients and
water and evolved independent of the changes that occurred on the earth
surface.
Micro-Biology
EXPERIMENTS:
To isolate and analyze the DNA, lipids and small biomolecules from
these rocks by use of cutting edge drilling/coring, genomic and
metabolite profiling technologies
To isolate and characterize the microbial cells that populate these
formations.
Target rock formations (accessible from the VT-NRL facility) and
sample collection strategies:
1. Carbonate-rich Shale – horizontal cores
2. Carbonate rocks - horizontal and inclined cores
3. ---Pyrite-------- vertical cores
Hydrology
study of regional water system
Mining Technology: Remote Handling
Develop technology to allow
remote handling of materials such
as will be needed for wastehandling at Yucca Mountain.
Transparent Earth: Imaging & Truthing
ability to image rock-mass, and then mineback to confirm model
Space & Access Available Beginning September 2005
further info: http://www.kimballton.org