ANDES Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site Proposal for a Deep
Underground Laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere Claudio Dib,
UTFSM Coordinator in Chile HEP 2012, Valparaso January 2012
Slide 2
The proposal: To build an Underground Lab in the AGUA NEGRA
tunnel. The AGUA NEGRA tunnel will be built under the Andes
Mountains between Chile and Argentina.
Slide 3
The Agua Negra Tunnel
Slide 4
Views of the Agua Negra pass There is no Tunnel yet!
Slide 5
The Tunnel Proposal Why a tunnel: - growing trade between
Argentina and Brazil with Asia. Shipping through Chilean ports to
cross the Andes. The mountain passes suffer severe cuts in winter.
Tunnel alternatives: Agua Negra pass (Coquimbo San Juan) ~ 14 km
Aconcagua pass (Los Andes Mendoza) ~ 50 km Las Leas pass (Rancagua
Mendoza) ~ 12 km
Slide 6
Maps
Slide 7
The Tunnel proposal Double Tunnel between Chile and Argentina 4
th Region (Chile) San Juan Province (Argentina) Diameter: 12 m (two
lanes each). Length: 14 km. Parallel separation: > 60 m;
Connections every 500 m.
Slide 8
Altitude: 3600 m asl (Chile) 4085 m asl (Argentina) T = 30 40
Celsius Construction: 2013 - 2020 Cost: 850 MUSD app. Ventilation
(forced longitudinal and transverse): 14,5 MW The Tunnel
proposal
Slide 9
Agua Negra geology
Slide 10
Rock studies Main rock: - Andesite variations: - rhyolite -
basalt - dacite - trachyte 9 samples from 8 perforations up to 600
m deep AndesiteBasaltRhyolite 1Rhyolite 2 U-238 9.2 0.92.6 0.514.7
2.011.5 1.3 Th-232 5.2 0.50.94 0.094.5 0.44.8 0.5 K-40 47 350 357
352 3 Bq/kg Thanks to Laboratorio de Activacin Neutrnica
(Bariloche, Argentina)
Slide 11
ANDES: ANDES: an underground Laboratory in South America
Slide 12
Deep underground Laboratories in the world + China, Korea,
India (not shown in the map) None in the Southern Hemisphere
Slide 13
Southern Hemisphere and Latin America: South Africa: neutrino
detection in gold mines (1965) South America: - Brazil: search for
a mine by C. Lattes. - Argentina: Dark Matter search experiment at
Sierra Grande mine (1000 mwe). - Chile: El Teniente mine prospected
(2001). Mexico: Multidisciplinary Mexican Underground Laboratory
(LSMM) proposal 2006.
Slide 14
World Labs: Muon flux vs. depth Flux at sea level ~ 100 /m 2 s
ANDES depth: ~ 4500 4800 mwe
Slide 15
Take advantage of the construction of a deep tunnel (unique
opportunity for U-Lab) U-Lab at the deepest point in tunnel (~ 1750
m deep) 3.5 km to Chilean entrance, 10 km to Argentinean entrance
The ANDES Lab proposal
Slide 16
Support Lab on each side: tentative: Vicua (Chile), San Jos de
Jchal (Argentina) ~ 140 km ~ 130 km Support Labs Support Lab U-
Lab
Slide 17
Nearest towns San Jos de J. (140 km) 11.000 hb. In Argentina:
Las Flores (75 km) 900 hab. Rodeo (90 km) 2.400 hab. San Jos de J.
(140 km) 11.000 hb. Vicua (150 km) 24.000 habs. In Chile: Paiguano
(135 km) 4.000 habs. Vicua (150 km) 24.000 habs.
Slide 18
Offices at entrances Tunnel will have a portal on each side,
with local services. Ask for 1 or 2 ANDES offices on each side
Possible night sleep to avoid daily trip to support labs.
Slide 19
What makes ANDES special? Third deepest Lab in the world. Only
deep underground lab in southern hemisphere Opposite
weather-induced modulations Low reactor neutrino bkg Embalse: 2.1
GWt, 560 km Atucha: 1.2 GWt, 1080 km Atucha II: 2.1 GWt Geoactive
Region Geophysics experiments Very long baselines: CERN: 9920 km
Fermilab: 7640 km (magic baseline) KEK: 12400 km (1500 km from
earth center)
Slide 20
ANDES initial Scientific Programme Neutrino physics: - host
double beta decay experiments - large Latin American neutrino
detector - KamLAND / Borexino style - focus on low energy - Solar /
Supernova / Geo neutrinos Dark Matter - modulation measurements -
new technologies Geophysics - link Chile-Argentina seismograph
networks Biology - life in extreme and low radiation environments
Low background intrumentation and measurements
Slide 21
ANDES Lab concept Located on southern side, near km 4 Main
hall: 21 x 23 x 50 m3 Secondary hall: 16 x 14 x 40 m3 Multilevel
hall: 17 x 15 x 25 m3 on 3 floors (up to 1200 m2) Ultra low
radiation pit: 8m , 9m depth Single experiment pit: 30m , 30m depth
Linear tunnel for interferometers.
Slide 22
ANDES Lab concept Estimated civil work cost (total Lab): 15
MU$D Ultra low radiation pit Multipurpose Hall Main Hall
Slide 23
Organization: Consorcio Latinoamericano de Estudios Subterrneos
(CLES ) Consorcio Latinoamericano de Estudios Subterrneos (CLES )
Latin American Consortium for Underground Studies
Slide 24
CLES (Latin American Consortium for Underground Studies CLES
forms the Scientific Committee to manage the ANDES Laboratory.
Common participation for ANDES operation and operating funds.
Excellent opportunity to have an international Laboratory, not only
international experiments. CLES: our seed for a small CERN-like
organization with focus on all underground sciences (HEP,
Geophysics, Biology, etc)
Slide 25
Letters of support from scientists/collaborations (LNBE,
SNOLAB, KamLAND, RCNP, SuperK, ICRR,) Letters of interest/coll.
Proposals (SuperNEMO, MIMAC, COBRA, DAEDALUS, ORNL,) Expressed
interest for ANDES
Slide 26
First: April 2011, Buenos Aires Second: June 2011, Rio de
Janeiro Third: tomorrow, here. Fourth: June 2012, Mexico? ANDES
Workshops
Slide 27
People Country representatives: Coordinator: Xavier Bertou
Argentina: Osvaldo Civitarese Brazil: Ronald C. Shellard Chile:
Claudio Dib Mexico: Juan Carlos DOlivo Science Task Forces:
Neutrinos: Renata Z. Funchal Dark Matter Geophysics Other
Slide 28
Conclusions Tunnel under the Andes Mts.: unique opportunity for
a Deep U-Lab First deep underground lab in Southern Hemisphere
Unique Latitude, distance to centres and position on earth crust
CLES: Opportunity for a Latin American Science integration Project
status: Scientific support, political support First conceptual
pre-designs of the Lab Some proposals for experiments Favorable
reception to include Lab in Tunnel Some rock studies, lab
feasibility study still pending Getting better everyday, but much
more work ahead More info at http://andeslab.org
