Stawell construction works on track

Construction of the Southern Hemisphere’s first dark matter underground physics laboratory is on track to welcome scientists by Christmas.

Centre members toured the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in July to see the slab had been laid. During the visit, the cavern walls were being sprayed with a product called Tekflex to reduce the potential for interference from background radon gas in the rock mass.

Since then, framing has been erected against the walls of the cavern - a very visible step towards the completion of the laboratory.

When the lab is completed, researchers will start their day with a 10km drive down a maze of tunnels to the cavernous laboratory, 1100m underground to work on dark matter experiments.

The SABRE experiment is one of the major experiments that will be located in SUPL.

In preparation for the research activity that will take place in Stawell, local students at Stawell Secondary College have been introduced to the search for dark matter, with the aim of inspiring students to consider careers in science.