EHSOC visits 4850 Level and Lab funding stats in a pie

A crowd gathered in the Majorana DeMonstrator machine shop on the 4850 Level on Thursday. The Environmental Health and Safety Oversight Committee (EHSOC) was joined by Sanford Lab staff and a number of observers for an inspection of the facility. Laboratory Director Mike Headley will report on the committee?s findings during the all- hands meeting on Thursday, March 1, at 8 a.m. in the Yates Education Building.

South Dakota has made a major investment in the Sanford Underground Laboratory?about $40.2 million since 2004?but the state also has partners, as illustrated in the pie chart above.

The ?Other Funding? number?$261.5 million? is based on data gathered for SDSTA Executive Director Ron Wheeler, who used it in his presentation to the Joint Appropriations Committee of the South Dakota Legislature earlier this month. (The SDSTA is not requesting money from the Legislature, but we do brief appropriators on lab progress each year.)

?Other Funding? includes T. Denny Sanford?s donation of $70 million. It also includes $91.5 million from the National Science Foundation, $57 million from the Department of Energy, $21 million for the Majorana Demonstrator experiment, $1.5 million for the LUX dark-matter detector, a $10 million HUD grant and $10.5 million in interest earnings. (LUX and Majorana also have their own operations budgets, which are not included in the chart.)

The total funding in the pie chart represents funding received and spent, as well as funding commitments. (For example, not all of the Sanford donation has been spent.)

Wheeler estimated that about $100 million of the $301.7 million total in the pie chart has been spent in South Dakota, which underscores the fact that researchers, engineers, institutions and contractors from throughout the nation are working on the project.