Science Centre in the Huguenot Tunnel

On 14 - 18 January, in the Republic of South Africa, in Du Kloof Lodge (Western Cape Province), a scientific symposium on the establishment of an underground low-background laboratory in the Huguenot Tunnel and on topics for upcoming research was held. The PAUL (Paarl Africa Underground Laboratory) in Du Teutskloof will be the first underground laboratory of its class in Africa and the second in the Southern Hemisphere.

The employees of the Department of Nuclear Spectroscopy and Radiochemistry of DLNP Daniya Zinatulina, Ayagoz Baimukhanova and the employee of the Department of Molecular Cell Genetics of DLNP Mikhail Zarubin took part in the scientific symposium held in South Africa. The event was timed to coincide with the establishment of the PAUL underground low-background laboratory in the Huguenot Tunnel. The project involves equipping of a physical laboratory under Mount Du Teutskloof (1300 m) in the middle of the current auxiliary tunnel 3.9 km long that will allow to achieve a rock shielding material thickness of about 800 m.

The estimated time to establish a laboratory with an area of 600 square meters will be five years. The laboratories Modan (LSM) and Gran Sasso (LNGS) will be used as prototypes for the project. The key tasks of the laboratory will be particle physics, astrophysics, nuclear physics and interdisciplinary research in geology, geophysics and biology. The University of Stellenbosch, the National Accelerator Center iThemba LABS, the University of the Western Cape, as well as a number of underground physics laboratories around the world will take part in the organization of the scientific centre. During the meeting, the implementation of the laboratory project, experimental work, topics for advanced research and opportunities for cooperation were discussed.

According to the DLNP Scientific Communications Group