Work begins on detector deployment
Massive barge and associated equipment was being assembled this week in preparation
LAKE VERMILION— An enormous crane and an even larger barge to ferry it all across more than three miles of Lake Vermilion were being assembled here this week as part of what is expected to be a month-long project to deploy ten underwater neutrino detectors in Big Bay, northeast of Ely Island.
It is a race, of sorts, against Mother Nature, as contractors from Veit and Co., who have been hired by Fermilab for their experience in marine operations, work to get it all installed before winter sets in. “Once the ice arrives, we’re all done,” said a Veit operations supervisor who was at McKinley Park Campground this week. The campground is serving as the base of operations for the deployment effort and a small crew of workers was busy assembling the giant barge and preparing the beefy gangway that will allow the crew to position the huge crane atop the barge. The barge is comprised of more than 20 connected sections, which will presumably provide the buoyancy needed to maintain stability as the crew deploys the crane, first to lower forty ten-ton concrete anchors into the lake, followed by the deployment of ten large neutrino detectors, which will be submerged under about 20 feet of water while connected to the anchors.
Several of the concrete anchors were on site as of Tuesday, but none of the detectors, known as Muon Underwater Monitors, or MUMs, had yet arrived. Fermilab spokesperson Tracy Marc said they are waiting for final approvals before shipping the MUMs to Soudan.
Fortunately for the work crew and the Fermilab officials who hired them for this unusual mission, the extended forecast shows the season’s exceptionally mild weather continuing at least through mid-November. That should keep the lake ice-free at least through that point in the season.
New website established
Anyone interested in more information on the neutrino project and its deployment can check out a new website created by Frank Williams, who has been a vocal skeptic of the project. You can find his site at https://largonet.org/vermilion/index.html.
